


Neighbours

by Pixel_Runner



Category: Bright (2017)
Genre: Any suggestions?, Because it's me, Elven Privilege, Elves are Dicks, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, Fantastic Racism, For the love of writing, I'm happy that is already an established tag!, Intersectionality, Just Assume Triggers., Kid Fic, Lack of Accessibility is Real, Maybe - Freeform, Multi, Ogres, Orc Clans, Orc Culture, Orc Gangs, Orcs, Past Spousal Abuse, Referenced past child abuse, Slightly Disabled Character, Slow Burn, Thanks Bonnie for letting me borrow Frank!, The Number One Killer of Pregnant Women is Their Partner, day in the life, health care, i don't know how to tag, no beta we publish our first drafts like men, please comment, reptilians, single mom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-04-03 20:32:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 32,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14004195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixel_Runner/pseuds/Pixel_Runner
Summary: Day to day life in the Bright Neighbourhood.  Follows a single mom who has just moved to the area.





	1. the First Day

**Author's Note:**

> This work is largely a FanFic of Bonnietakesnosh_t's world. I have seen Bright. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't really inspired to write in that world until I saw how she was building a neighbourhood. This work takes place in her neighbourhood, with her permission and chapters will be removed or edited based on her veto.

Fred was taking her daughter to her first day of  kindergarten at her new school. Which was technically her first day of kindergarten ever.  A mid-year start was not ideal, but nothing about this situation was ideal. Fred’s green card had just came through.  She had gotten a job at the local community clinic and an apartment in one of the mixed use buildings.

 

That was so bizarre to Fred.  Technically, America was not racial segregated, but in reality, there were buildings that didn’t rent to humans and districts where orcs needed a permit to enter.  That didn’t really feel like integration to her.

 

The community where Fred had gone to university was fifty per cent ogre, forty per cent human, three per cent elf and seven per cent other.  Which didn’t mean that racism wasn’t a thing back home too, it was just more subtle. Her current neighbourhood was mostly orc with a few humes mixed in for flavour.  No elves and that suited Fred just fine. She didn’t have a lot of experience with orcs, but physiologically, they were very similar to ogres. Blue and pink instead of green or brown.  Bald instead of black hair. But same teeth, same night vision and hearing, same amazing sense of smell. Internally, orcs and ogres were so similar that the medical establishment saw the divide as a false one.  It was more or less based on which side of the great war their ancestors had fought for. Of course, a couple of thousand years of separation had led to a certain about of diversion of physical appearance, but not as much as you would expect.  Not like, say, the subspeciation that had happened between a Mastiff and a Chihuahua. 

 

The point was, Fred was not intimidated by Orcs.

 

Or at least she hadn’t been.  She had only been here a week and the noticeable racial tensions were already getting to her.  Mackenzie was attending the local school. It has a level of diversity that would be desirable back home.  Here, her colleagues had strongly suggested she enroll her daughter in a private school.

 

Fred wasn’t entirely sold on that idea.  Which lead them to this point. Mac in a pair of jeans, pink chucks and a pink t-shirt with a picture of a bunny on it.  Waiting in the kindergarten classroom waiting for the bell to ring and her classmates to join her. The first pair of kids to run in and throw themselves at the teacher were a pair of orc pups (god, Fred hated that description).  The boy and girl were clearly siblings. The teacher introduced MacKenzie who promptly wanted to talk Spiderman movies with the boy after recognizing his t-shirt.

 

Fred left to the sound of Mac explaining that her “mum” won’t buy her clothes with logos.

 

Fred and Mac’s last name was Underhill.  The last trace of an elven grandfather. Fred hated it.  Hated the man. It didn’t help that her grandfather had attended her graduations and flirted with her classmates.  Among other things she didn’t like to talk about. But it was a name that came with privileges. She likely wouldn’t have gotten into med school as a Smith or a Jones and she certainly wouldn’t have gotten a green card.  They both had pale skin that sunburned burned almost instantly, pale blue eyes and would have a light purple tint to their hair if Fred didn’t keep it dyed brown. It was easier to blend in with brown hair.

 

The problem with Elves, if you were able to get Fred drunk enough to actually talk about it, was the difference in life expectancy.  They lived for hundreds of years. Where humans were eighty generations from the great war, elves were only twelve generations removed.  Elvish females were only capable of reproducing once every ten years, once they reached the age of sexual maturity at a hundred. This meant that male elves could knock up a hume, play house until the kid was school aged and dump the woman before his wife was ready to try again.

 

Which is exactly what her grandfather had done.  The problem was it happened in 1920’s and the human family had been shamed ever since.  In the meantime, the elvish child he had with his wife was barely an adult himself. 

 

To be fair, everyone’s reproductive cycle was long compared to humans.  Orc and ogres where fertile on an annual basis. Centaurs: semi annually.  Reptilians: biannually.

 

Then there were human females, ready to go at anytime.  Fred spent a lot of time in sex ed classes explaining how that wasn’t actually true.  But the science of human female sexuality wasn’t nearly as exciting as the mythology.

 

In the meantime, she and Mac were settling in away from all of her complicated family problems.  The nice thing about this neighbourhood was that everything was within walking distance and when she couldn’t walk, public transport was excellent here.

 

Plus, it almost never rained.  It was worth nearly having to bathe in sunscreen for that.

 

The hospital where Fred now worked was an easy five minute stroll from Mackenzie’s school.  It was her first day too. Her office had a plaque already out. Dr Fredilyn Underhill: General Family Medicine.  Fred glared at it for a moment. She had specifically ask for it to either say Dr Fred or Dr F.  Just because the world was full of racists didn’t mean it wasn’t also full of misogynists.

 

She would have to get that changed.

 

She sighed as she walked into her office.  The receptionist was a reptilian who flicked her tongue at Fred.  

 

“Ma’am?” The receptionist said, “Are you sure you are in the right place?  This is general family medicine. That means the doctor will see any species.  It would be much faster if you went to see one of the doctors that specialize in human medicine.”

 

Fred narrowed her eyes and sighed.  “Yeah. I bet it would be.” She held out her hand, “Dr. Fred Underhill.  You can call me Fred. Or Doc.”

 

The reptilian hesitated.  Most humans didn’t shake hands with other races.  Not without flinching anyway.

 

Fred didn’t flinch.

 

After a moment the receptionist said, “Pleased to meet you, Doc.  I’m Kate. I was expecting… well. Um. I’ll be your receptionist until you choose one you like from the secretarial pool.”

 

Fred frowned.  “Are you already spoken for then?”

 

Kate ducked her head.  “Uh… we were expecting an Elf and they generally want human receptionists and nurses.”

 

Fred shrugged,  “If you can do the job, it’s yours.  I generally prefer staff that live in the area, rather than sorting by species, but we can figure that out as we go.”

 

Kate nodded, “Of course, doctor.  Your office is right over here. These are your exam rooms.  Let me know when you are ready to start.”

 

Fred pulled a white coat out of her bag and announced, “I’m ready to go if you are.”

 

\---

 

It had been interesting.  The hospital administrators were startled by her appearance and very reluctant to change the plaque.  Female elven doctors were impossible to get. Technically, Fred counted. She just wasn’t happy about it.  She dreamed about changing her last name to the much more human sounding Hill. But she had a daughter. The sad truth was Mac would have an easier go of life as an Underhill than she would as a Hill.

 

Hell, life as a single mom was easier with an Elvish last name.

 

Fred didn’t like it, but it was the world she lived in.  And even more so now that she was living in LA.

 

Her shift at the hospital ended in time for her to hobble down to the school to pick Mac up from the after school program.  The twins from that morning were there too. They and Mac were the last kids to be picked up. Their mom was heavily pregnant.  Fred smiled at the woman, then at her belly. 

 

She got a frown in return.

 

Not the friendliest greeting Fred had ever received, but not the worst either.

 

Mac was pulling on her sleeve.  “Mum! Can Brayden and Briella come over and watch cartoons on Saturday?”

 

Fred shrugged, “Sure!  If it’s OK with their mom.”

 

The twins immediately turned to their mom and whined, “Please!”  

 

She was clearly taken aback.  “Um…”

 

The girl piped up with, “Mac lives in the same building as Miss.  So Uncle Frank can take us when he goes to visit.”

 

The mom was still looking nervously at Fred.  So, Fred held out her hand and said, “Hi! I’m Fred, Mackenzie’s mom.  I work at the hospital.”

 

The woman coughed, but shook Fred’s hand.  “I’m Tianda.”

 

“Please to meet you, Tianda.  I really don’t mind having the kids over if it isn’t too much trouble for you.”

 

Tianda nodded.  “We’ll pop in for a little visit.”

 

“Great!’ Fred replied.  “We are in apartment 5B in the Winchester Arms.”

 

Tianda raised an eyebrow, “You’re on the fifth floor?”

 

Fred felt uncomfortable.  “For now. We are on the waitlist at a couple of local buildings for an apartment on ground level.  Or someplace with an elevator. But they are hard to come by around here.”

 

Tianda gave Fred another look, but all she said was, “Huh.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment!


	2. The Play Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It... got away from me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Author in Exile

Fred answered the knock on the door promptly at 10am.  She tried not to grin since she could hear them out in the hallway for the last five minutes.  She opened the door and stared.

 

Despite her elvish ancestry, Fred wasn’t tall.  She was a perfectly average 5’4. At six feet, Tianda was a perfectly respectable size for an orcess.  But “Uncle Frank” was not just the tallest male of any species, Fred had ever seen, he was also the biggest.  If he had been human, she would have diagnosed anabolic steroid use, but his physique wasn’t totally unheard of among Orcs.  On the other hand, it wasn’t exactly common, either.

 

The man had to duck to fit through the doorway.

 

Fred’s mind temporary boggled at the idea that HE was dating Mac’s teacher.  The woman was shorter that Fred! How did they even...Nope! No! Not her business!  Reroute that train of thought right now.

 

Frank’s nose twitched and he grinned at her.

 

Fred forced herself not to frown and offered everyone a coffee.

 

Frank excused himself downstairs to go visit his girlfriend.  Tianda and Fred made awkward small talk where neither of them talked about the kids’ fathers.  Until Brayden asked Mac, “Is your daddy in jail too?”

 

Mac gaped at him, “Yes!  Is yours?”

 

“Yeah.  For armed robbery.  How about yours?”

 

“He tried to kill Mum with a baseball bat before I was born.  Are you ‘lergic to peanut butter?”

 

“No.”

 

“Mum!  Can I make peanut butter toast?”  Fred and Tianda shared an awkward glance.  Fred shrugged. Tianda nodded. Mac whooped and bounced over to where they kept the bread. “I love using the toaster,” she confided in Brayden.

 

While the kids were making mostly a mess, but as a byproduct, peanut butter toast, Fred awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.  “Yeah, so there’s that.”

 

Tianda considered this.  “When does yours get out?”

 

“Next year.  We were divorced shortly after Mac’s birth.  I, uh, left him off her birth certificate and he didn’t contest it.  He lost visitation rights, I lost child support. He had a slightly stronger defence at his trial.  But there is a permanent restraining order against him.”

 

“Wow.”  Tianda said.  “Those don’t always work, you know.”

 

Fred shrugged.  “No, but moving countries and not giving a forwarding address generally does.  Convicted felons can’t enter the US.”

 

“Well, shit.” Tianda said.  Her kids both gaped at her. “Right! Sorry.  Bad word. You don’t get to say that, understand?”

 

All three kids nodded.

 

From then on, Tianda and Fred spent the morning commiserating about raising kids as a single mom.  Tianda rubbed her belly and admitted that her husbands brothers were being incredibly helpful. “I don’t know how I would manage without my family to help out.”

 

Fred dropped her gaze to stare at her lap for a moment.  “Yeah,” she said quietly. “But he knows where my parents live and, like you said, restraining orders don’t always work.”

 

Tianda hauled herself out of the chair.  “We need to go organize some lunch and get Frank to take us for groceries, but…  Look, there’s a Fogtooth party next week. Do you know what that is?”

 

Fred shook her head, “Fogtooth is the local clan, right?”

 

Tianda nodded.  “There is a barbeque in the afternoon, it’s great for families.  Everyone is welcome. Why don’t you and Mac come and I can introduce you to some of the other moms in the school.”

 

“That sounds great!”  Fred gushed, hoping for good weather.

 

\----

 

Saturday started out great, but rain was forecast for that evening.  Fred hoped it held off until she was safely home.

 

The barbeque was hosted by the community association and the Fogtooth CLAN, which Kate had been clear to point out wasn’t the same as the Fogtooth GANG.  At least not on paper. In reality, most of the male clan members belonged to both. By all accounts, the block parties were strictly demilitarized. Even the local hume gang, The Altimiras were invited.

 

Hell, America’s first orc cop even turned up with his partner, his partner’s wife and kid.  Fred vaguely recognized the woman as one of the Emerg nurses from the hospital. They were all very polite, even if Officer Jakoby was smelling her.  At least he didn’t comment.

 

It was the kind of hot out that promised thunderstorms later.  Fred didn’t own a pair of shorts, but she dug out a long sundress that came down to mid calf on her.

 

She had a burger and a beer and met a bunch of moms from Mac’s class.  It seemed like the split was ⅓ orc, ⅓ human, ⅓ other. Kate from work had a nephew at the school.  Mac’s teacher wasn’t there, but Frank was. Fred wondered about that, but didn’t ask.

 

She rather got the impression that all the moms already knew about her ex-husband, but at least no one asked if he had been an elf.  Elves don’t go to jail. Not really. Not often.

 

Fred could feel the storm coming, but she toughed it out until Mac started to yawn at seven, then said her polite goodbyes.  The nice thing about being hanging out with the orc crowd was that no one tried to talk her into staying. There were some perks to being around people who could smell your pain, namely she had never had to have [ the spoons ](https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/) discussion with anyone who wasn’t human or elf.

 

They made it to the front entrance of the apartment building before the rain hit, but by then Fred could hardly walk.  The nice thing about everyone being at the party was that there was no one to witness how she nearly had to crawl up the five flights of stairs to her apartment.  She gave Mac a bath and tucked her in, then took some painkillers and had a soak in the tub herself.

 

Ugh.  She needed to find a ground floor apartment.

 

That was one nice thing about this building.  Unlimited hot water that was very nearly hot enough to burn.  Getting out of the tub was hard. Fred let the water out, then flopped, inelegantly over the side.  She wrapped up in a towel and made it to her room by leaning heavily against the walls. She dug out a clean sleep shirt and panties without turning the lights on.

 

Fred was in bed before nine.  She left the window slightly open and enjoyed the sound of thunder outside.  After a particularly loud crash, Mac woke up and came screaming into bed with her.  Fred rubbed her back.

 

“Go to sleep, sweetie.  I’m gonna need your help tomorrow, OK?”

 

“ ‘es, mama.”  Mac mumbled.

 

And with that, Fred felt another wave of guilt.  Mac shouldn’t need to help her as much as she did.  But neither of them could do it alone.

 

\----

 

Zarfu had spent the afternoon flipping burgers and keeping an eye on the new doc.  So far, she had a good rep in the community. Hell, Tamra said she the first doctor she had taken her boys to who understood that sometimes boys just play rough.  A scuffed knee and three stitches didn’t immediately require a call to child protective services.

 

But he didn’t understand why she was here.  She stank like pain, with an undercurrent of fear and that faint hint of lust that seemed to always follow hume females.  As he watched her, he noticed she wasn’t moving around very much and she was slightly favouring her right leg. Not enough so that a person would notice if they weren’t paying attention, but enough that it was obvious if you were.

 

She disappeared in the crowd and Zarfu forgot about her.

 

Until he met her in the local bodega the next morning.  Today she was walking with a cane. She was buying breakfast for her and the kid.  He was buying Red Bull for his hangover.

 

She frowned at him.

 

Zarfu was not in the mood.  “What you looking at, bitch?” he snarled.

 

She blinked in surprise and replied honestly and without fear, “A man in need of a gatorade.  Tell, you what. You pick out your favourite flavour, I’ll buy it and if you drink it before the Red bull you will feel better.”

 

Zarfu just snorted, then huffed to try to blow the smell of her pain out of his nose.  “You think so, huh?”

 

“Yup.”  She said.  The kid handed him a clear sports drink.  

 

Zarfu glared at her.  That worked. The kid squeaked and hid behind her mom.  Now he felt bad and when Zarfu felt bad, he shared. “You want make me feel better?  Suck my dick. That’ll make me feel better.”

 

The woman just sighed and didn’t say anything, she just looked tired.  When Zarfu snorted again, she smelled like hurt. That was when he remembered that she was a doctor and might not be completely full of shit.  He snatched the gatorade out of the kids hand and stormed out out of the store without paying.

 

She was right though.  He felt quite a bit better by the time he got to Dorghu’s

 

\----

 

Mac watched the orc, who was easily a foot taller than her mum storm out.    Mum ran her hand over Mac’s head and said softly, “It’s ok, baby girl.”

 

“He was really scary, mum.”

 

“Yeah.  But he’s gone now.  Look, we will either figure out how to fit in, or we will move again until we find someplace we do fit it.”

 

The Dwarf standing on a box behind the counter, waved off Fred’s attempt to pay.  “You fit here, Doc. We have a hard time getting good health care in this neighbourhood.  I heard how you fixed my mother in laws ingrown toenails. Not many would want to tackle that job.  Said you were proper respectful too. Not many of your kind would be.”

 

Fred winced at the “your kind” comment.  Then she insisted on paying anyway. “I want to keep my money in the community.  I pay you, you buy something from the guy up the street, this neighbourhood gets a little better off.”

 

Mac noticed the teenaged Orc in the corner listening to the whole exchange, but her mum didn’t.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please!


	3. Chapter - The Integration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fred and Mac make some friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fogtooth Frank belongs to Bonnietakesnosh_t. If she is ever unhappy with how this story goes, he will be renamed. I am fully aware of how lucky I am that she is allowing me to use her character.
> 
> (And I am not so secretly hoping that if she ever writes her character going to the hospital, she name checks Fred. Because that would be awesome.)

Mikey waited until the woman had left, then he bought a six pack of the sports drink she had given to Zarfu.  When he got to the register, he could still smell the cloud of pain scent she had left in the air. Fuck. Zarfu had been right next to that and he was still an asshole.

 

Mikhail, the dwarf behind the counter raised an eyebrow at his purchase.  Mikey shrugged then asked, “What was she buying, besides the sports drink?”

 

Mikhail frowned,  “You tell- ASK your dad to have his boys be careful with her.  She’s the one who’ll be cleaning you up if you get stabbed or shot.”

 

Mikey just raised an eyebrow and tried to puff up a bit.  Mikhail sighed. “She bought milk, breakfast sandwiches for her and the kid, a bag of apples and a loaf of bread.  Why do you care?”

 

“I don’t.”  Mikey said, dropping some bills for the sports drink and leaving without waiting for his change.

 

\----

 

Frank was on his way out from spending the night with his baby girl.  He needed to report in this morning. On his way down the stairs, he passed the woman who had invited over his sister in law.  She was sitting on the landing of the second floor, a cane in her lap. “What are you doing?” he demanded.

 

She looked up at him.  “Just resting,” she said, softly.

 

Frank looked at the kid sitting next to her and sniffed.  He was expecting her to still be drunk after the party last night.  That was the only reason he could think of why someone couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs.

 

She wasn’t.

 

He wasn’t expecting to smell pain.  “What’s wrong with you?” he asked, then felt a bit bad.  That wasn’t as tactful as he could have been and she was living in the same building as his princess.  Humes all knew each other.

 

She shrugged and pulled the kid into her lap sliding over close to the wall so he could get passed.  “I have a bit of hardware in my leg. It doesn’t bother me much most of the time, but when the weather is changing… it gets a little… stiff.  Uncomfortable.” She blushed slightly on the word stiff. 

 

Frank considered this.  “You live on the fifth floor and you can hardly walk up a flight of stairs, how’s that gonna work?”

 

The woman shrugged.  “Slowly,” she said.

 

Frank looked at the kid. “Can you carry the cane?” he asked.  The girl looked startled but nodded. Frank bent down. “Excuse me,” he said as he picked up the woman and turned to carry her up the stairs.

 

“Wa?!” she made a startled exclamation.

 

“Look,” Frank reasoned.  “I carry you up the stairs, it takes two minutes.  Or I leave you blocking the stair for…. How long?”

 

“A while,” she confessed, clearly embarrassed.

 

“Easier this way.  Plus I can start my work out early today.”

 

She didn’t say anything, but she held on to his neck and smelled embarrassed for another moment.

 

“You said hardware, like you got shot or something and they couldn’t get the bullet out?” he asked.

 

“Um… something like that, I guess.  I have a metal rod holding my femur, my thigh bone together.”

 

“How’d you manage that?”

 

“I have terrible taste in men.”

 

Frank frowned.  That was just not right.  Assholes like that wrecked it for the rest of them.  Then he thought about someone hurting baby girl like that and felt nauseous.   He set the woman down outside her door and bolted.

 

\----

 

Fred sighed and unlocked the door.  That was unexpected. She appreciated the help, but could have done without the questioning.  Still, she had to be back to work on Monday. Time to find the hot pack and try to get the muscles in her leg to relax.

 

\----

 

Mikey turned up at his dad’s place with the gatorade and there were plenty of people who needed it.   Dad was getting the rundown on last night’s event. By and large it had been a success. There had been a couple of people who needed to be bounced from the event.  And one that Frank had needed to splat.

 

Wait, “Where is Frank?”

 

Dad growled, “Late.  Again.”

 

And as though summoned by name, Frank arrived.  Dad went from zero to pissed in a fraction of a second.  “What did you do? I warned you about tearing up some human chick, yet here you are, stinking of sex and pain-”

 

“Dad!”  Mikey interrupted.  Dorghu froze and glared at his son.  “Sorry, Dad, but he smells like the new Doctor.  That’s her pain.”

 

Dorghu glared at Frank.  Frank gave him the thousand yard stare.  “What did you do?”

 

Mikey cleared his throat.  “She was having breakfast with her kid at Mikhail’s.  She was already hurt. She had a fancy cane and everything.  Didn’t seem like a new problem. Zarfu was there.”

 

Zarfu nodded slowly, “Yeah.  She gave me a gatorade. She was already fucked up yesterday at the barbeque yesterday afternoon.”

 

Dorghu swore and light another cigarette.  “Well, what’s your story Frank?”

 

Frank shrugged.  “I walked her home.”

 

“And?”

 

“And I didn’t fuck her if that’s what you’re asking.”

 

“OK then.  We should invite her to a family dinner.  And her kid. Community outreach and that shit.”

 

Mikey snickered, Zarfu blushed.  Dad glared at him. “What?”

 

“Part of the community has already reached out.” Mikey joked.

 

Zarfu’s ears sagged.

 

Dad took a long drag of his cigarette while he stared at Zarfu.  “I see.”

 

\----

 

Fred took Friday afternoon off.  Which had her standing on the curl waiting for Mac while Frank was waiting in his truck for Brayden and Briella.  God, she missed driving. These days there was the ongoing threat of a muscle spasm in her knee. Technically, she wasn’t unable to drive, she just didn’t want people like her on the road.  She had put in applications at three more apartment buildings that week. Two didn’t have ground floor apartments open. The other guy had taken one look at her name and flat out said he didn’t rent to elves.

 

She hadn’t really known what to say to that.  She wouldn’t have either. Hell, half the reason to have a general practice is that Elves would never lower themselves to be seen my anything other than boutique physician.  She didn’t have the carnivorous teeth or the pointy ears and however many doors opened for the name Underhill, there were also some that slammed on it. She sure as shit wasn’t Elvish enough for the Elves

 

As it stood, she had organized her life so that she would have as few trips up and down the stairs this weekend as possible.  The last thing she wanted was to need a lift up the stairs again. That was easily the most embarrassing thing that had happened to her.  Well, this year at any rate.

 

Which is why she wasn’t exactly thrilled when Mac came running out and announced, “Mummy!  Mummy! We are invited to Brayden and Briella’s house for dinner Gusorrow! Can we go? Huh?  Can we?” 

 

Well, shit.  That was certainly karma for her ambushing Tianda last week.  “I’ll have to call their mum and get the details. Right now, all I can say is maybe.”  With their advanced hearing, the twins shouted “Yay!” Their uncle winced. Fred wondered if it was because of the noise or that she hadn’t just said no.

 

As it was, Saturday night had Fred and Mac turning up at Tianda’s apartment with a bottle of wine and a cheesecake for dessert.  Family dinner turned out to be Tianda, the twins, three other orcesses and a dozen male orcs all wearing variation of the Fogtooth jersey.  

 

Fred was immediately nervous.

 

And from the assorted twitching of nostrils, everyone immediately noticed.

 

Well, she thought, if you can’t hide it, own it.  “Sorry. I’m not got at meeting large groups of people all at once.  Too much of an introvert, I guess. Give me a moment and I’ll get over it.”

 

Well, at least that got them to stop staring at her.  One of them lit a cigarette and Tianda immediately began to flap, “Take that outside, Dorghu!  I don’t want you smoking around the kids.”

 

The seemed to surprise most of the orcs, but not nearly as much as Dorghu actually following directions.  Three of the others followed him out. Tianda took the cake from Fred and handed her a beer. Fred hesitated before cracking it open.

 

She took a sip and then introduced herself to the remaining orcs, “Hi.  I’m Fred. This is Mackenzie.”

 

“Call me Mac.”

 

Tianda introduced Pruthy, Spilge, Zinsbog, Xokuk, Xarlug, Grat, Yagak, Furbog, Alyssa, Trish and Tammy.  Fred wasn’t sure she should ask if Frank was coming. She was aware that orc clans had a very firm hierarchy, but she hadn’t figured out how that worked in her neighbourhood yet.

 

Other than recognizing Dorghu, or course.  Ogres back home would have titled him the patriarch.  Fred wasn’t sure what the orc equivalent was. Even then, she recognized him from the barbeque.  It wasn’t like they had been introduced, but it was dawning on Fred that maybe she was here to officially meet him.  That was smart actually, if she had been invited to his place or the clan church, she might not have gone.

 

Well, OK, so  _ she _ would have gone.  At least if the invitation was to their church.  She had been invited to that sort of thing with the Ogres back home, but she was quickly realizing that her co-workers would have tried to talk her out of it.  And she would have tried to find a babysitter for Mac. Actually….

 

“Um, Tianda? Do you have any recommendations for local kids who babysit?”

 

Tianda gave her a deer in the headlights look.  “Uh… I just get family to look after the kids. Sorry.”

 

“It’s OK.  I ask around.  Someone in the kids class must have an older sibling or cousin or neighbour or something.”

 

Alyssa cleared her throat.  “My daughter might my interested.  Or you could ask Dorghu is Mikey is interested.  He’s a good kid. Needs something to keep him out of trouble.”

 

Trisha laughed, “He’s got a girlfriend now.  He might not have time for babysitting.”

 

Tammy shrugged, “He’s got a girlfriend now, he might want some extra cash.”

 

Tianda nodded, “Mikey is great with the kids.”

 

At that point Dorghu came back.  He stank of cigarettes, Fred wondered if that was the point.  She knew the general consensus was that humans smelled bad. Between the natural body odor and all the products used to hide it, most other races found the smell of human vaguely offensive.

 

Or errotic, depending on their biases.

 

Either way, Dorghu wouldn’t be smelling anything Fred was putting off with that amount of cigarette smoke clinging to his clothing.  He was surprised when Tianda asked him if Mikey might be willing to babysit Mac, but he rallied quickly. “You can ask him when he gets here.”

 

Nobody moved to introduce the other three, so Fred held out her hand and introduced herself to Umhra, Quadagh and Gus.

 

“Gus?” Fred asked.  

 

There was a general snorting of muffled laughter.  Gus shrugged. “Your throat is the wrong shape to pronounce the diphthong in Gruul.”

 

Fred’s eyebrows went up.  “Yeah, I think you are right.  I can hear that sound, but I have no idea how to make it.”  she had learned that the key to telling orcs appart was the patterns on their faces rather than the shapes of their features.  Gus was almost entirely blue with pink freckles. As she tried to learn his face, the tips of his ears turned a darker blue.

 

Interesting.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments fuel the writing!


	4. The Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of backstory.
> 
> And Interspecies dating is hard when there are kids involved.

Dinner was interesting.  Most of the men sat on the couch with their plate in their lap watching football.  The kids sat on the floor doing the same. Mac kept asking what was going on, so Fred finally called her into the kitchen.

 

“We will find someone to give you a football lesson sometime when they aren’t all concentrating on the match, OK?” Fred suggested.  The Orcs were all surprised by that.

 

It was Tianda that asked, “You don’t watch football?”

 

Fred shrugged, “It isn’t as big of a thing back home as it is here.”

 

Tammy laughed, “Yeah, I bet you watch hockey instead.”

 

Fred shrugged and took another sip of her beer, “It’s a cliche for a reason.”

 

Dorghu, who was just taking it for granted that she knew who he was said, “I hear you take all sorts at your clinic.”

 

Fred shrugged again, “Sure.  I mean, I’m not licenced for centaurs or reptilians, but other than that, yeah, I’ll see anyone.”  She hesitated as she considered who she was talking do. “I’m not on call at the hospital, though, and I don’t do after hours visits.  It just doesn’t work as a single mom.”

 

“Rumor has it, your husband is in jail.”

  
  


“Wow, not subtle.  Yeah, he’s my ex-husband.  He’s in jail. Rumor has it you spent some time there yourself, so I don’t think you get to hold that against me.”

 

Everyone in the apartment went deadly quiet at that.  Fred was suddenly afraid she had overstepped. She knew they would smell her fear, but she didn’t apologize or drop her gaze.

 

After a long moment, Dorghu laughed, “That’s true.”  He watched her for another moment. “You spend much time with Orcs?”

 

Fred shrugged.  “I grew up in a community that was half ogre.  But I hadn’t ever seen an orc until med school.”

 

Dorghu’s eyes narrowed. “I’m trying to figure out how we ended up with a Dr. Underhill working in this neighbourhood.”

 

Fred grinned, “I’m just lucky, I guess.”

 

That made him laugh again.  “I like you, girl. You can stay.”

 

Now she frowned.  “I haven’t decided that yet.  I can’t find a ground floor apartment and…  Well, the locals aren’t always as friendly as they could be.”

 

Dorghu bristled at that.  “Who has been unfriendly?”

 

Fred just shrugged.  “Random people.”

 

Mac piped up, “Like the guy who said you should suck his dick last week.”

 

Fred blushed, “Yeah, like that.”

 

“What was the context behind that remark?” Gus asked.

 

“He was hungover.  I was trying to get him to rehydrate.  It wasn’t really any of my business.”

 

“Would you recognize him if you saw him again?” Dorghu asked.

 

“As a one off, I’m not too worried about it.  I just would be happier if people didn’t talk like that in front of my kid.”

 

That wasn’t the right thing to say.  Dorghu went really quiet at that. Gus frowned.  Tianda asked quietly, “Where was this?”

 

Fred didn’t want to answer that, but Mac had no filter, “At the bodega last Sunday morning.  He was really mean.”

 

Fred shook her head, “He was a little rude.”

 

“I see.  I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

 

Fred shivered.  “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to make dinner awkward.”

 

Trish said, “You put six stitches in Jacob’s forehead last week.”

 

Now Fred wanted to leave.  “I can’t talk about my patients.  They have the right to confidentiality.”

 

Trish shrugged.  “You did. His mom told me.  Said you didn’t give her any grief about it either.  Said you understood that kids sometimes fall off the monkey bars.  Jacob is disappointed because it isn’t going to scar.”

 

Fred crossed her arms and leaned forward to rest them on the table, but didn’t say anything.

 

“You want to change the subject?” Dorghu asked.  Fred nodded. “OK. How’d Frank end up smelling like you last Sunday?”

 

Fred rubbed her neck, she noticed how Tianda tensed when Frank was mentioned.  “I have a hard time with stairs when the weather changes. That’s why I’m looking for a ground floor apartment.  I currently have a fifth floor walk up. Frank was in the area and helped me walk up.”

 

Gus shook his head.  “You won’t find anything on the ground floor in this neighbourhood.  You would be lucky to find something on the second floor over a shop.   If you’ve been to the Iron Boot Market, you should ask Mikhail if he has anything for rent.”

 

Fred looked at him.  “I didn’t know there were apartments above the bodega.  There isn’t a for rent sign up.”

 

Gus shrugged.  “Dwarves are picky little bug-” he stopped and looked at Mac, “Um...are careful about who they rent to.  But I’m pretty sure the one next to me is empty.”

 

Fred considered this.  Her current apartment was on a quieter street.  She honestly didn’t know how to judge if she would be better off taking a second floor apartment on a busy street with a clan member next door.  On the other hand, it couldn’t hurt to make some inquiries.

 

She nodded and changed the subject.  “Tianda, the chicken is delicious! I should get your recipe!”

 

Tianda just laughed.  Gus’s ears got dark again.  He cleared his throat. “I brought the chicken.  Dorghu made the waffles. Tianda made the green salad. Trish brought potato salad.  Tammy brought the ham, and Umhra brought the buns.”

 

“And the rest of us are lazy sponges!” someone called from the living room.

 

Mac giggled.  Fred smiled. “Well, then, Gus - are you willing to share your recipe?”

 

His eyes twinkled as he said, “Maybe.”

 

\----

 

Fred had a good time that night.  Right up until she noticed it was past time to leave.  Mac had fallen asleep in a pile with the twins. It was full dark out and the streets were starting to sound like Saturday night.  Definitely time to go. She thanked Tianda for her hospitality, then went to try to wake Mac up.

 

The kid was out cold.  Fred tried pulling her into a sitting position, hoping that would help her wake up.  It didn’t. “C’mon Mac! You need to wake up! I can’t carry you home!”

 

Gus stepped in and just scooped the girl up.  “I’ll carry her out to your car,” he said, helpfully.

 

Fred frowned.  Tianda frowned and said, “That doesn’t help her get up the five flights of stairs at home.”

 

“I don’t have a car.”  They all looked at her in shock.  Fred shrugged. “I can’t drive. That was a big part of my choosing this neighbourhood, everything is within walking distance or public transit.”

 

Dorghu frowned, “But you will have a hard time getting a cab now.  They won’t be looking for short fair to drive you eight blocks home.”

 

Gus looked at the kid in his arms.  “I’ll give you a ride.”

 

“You don’t have a car seat in your truck.” Tianda pointed out. Gus opened his mouth to speak, “No, you can’t borrow one of mine,” she continued, “Mac is twenty pounds lighter that the twins.  She wouldn’t fit in one of theirs.”

 

Gus shrugged, “Well, Doc, looks like I’m walking you home.”

 

Fred’s mind was racing.  Dorghu knew it was eight blocks home.  Which meant he already knew where she lived.  She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. And while Gus wasn’t as tall as Frank, he was certainly head and shoulders taller than she was.  And as much as she hated to admit it, Gus was three shades of blue with only a little pink. It reminded her that  [ black dogs ](https://www.petfinder.com/pet-adoption/dog-adoption/black-dog-syndrome/) have a lower adoption rate at shelters than light coloured ones.  It was like standing next to a walking shadow. A big, scary walking shadow.

 

Gus chuckled, “I’m offering to walk you home Doc, not inviting myself in.”

 

Fred blushed about as hard as she ever had.

 

Dorghu snorted.  The others tried with varying levels of success not to laugh.

 

Fred looked at her daughter.  “It’s eight blocks, but then you have to come back for your truck.  That’s kind of farther than I feel comfortable asking you to walk.”

 

“My legs are longer.  It’s fewer steps for me than for you.  It’ll be fine.”

 

Fred looked up at his face and tried to read his expression, it was harder with orcs.  Their emotional tells were their smells and she was at a biological disadvantage there.  She nodded slowly and said, “Thank you, Gus.”

 

Fred got her coat and headed out the door.  “I have to warn you, I take the stairs like a senior citizen.”  Guz snorted with laughter. Fred hesitated because she wasn’t really making a joke.  Stairs were hard and going down was the worst. She was more afraid of falling.

 

She leaned heavily against the wall on her right side and carefully stepped down, right leg first, then left leg to the same step, then repeat.  After about four steps, Gus said, “Is this a joke, Doc?”

 

Fred pressed her lips tight together and flushed again.  She was committed to the stairs now, which meant she could just take Mac from him and storm out.  What she said was, “Nope. This really is my life. If you can wait until I get to the landing, I’ll try to wake Mac up again, then you can get on with your day.”

 

Gus was behind her so she couldn’t see his blush, and she wasn’t equipped to smell it.  “I’m in no rush. I just didn’t see this coming. I can understand why you want a ground floor apartment now.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Gus thought about it.  “You’re a doctor, why not by a one level house in the suburbs?”

 

“You can’t live in the suburbs and not drive.  Plus, I have found that smaller communities tend to be more friendly.  If I was a couple or blocks away from home in the ‘burbs at a party with a bunch of human doctors… well, I can’t see them offering to walk me home.”

 

Gus thought about this.  “I don’t just offer to walk anyone home.”

 

Fred snorted.  “No. Being a doctor does come with some benefits.  I get to meet more of the community than a secretary or salesgirl.  Or, really, if there was a new lawyer in the neighbourhood, would they have been invited to dinner?”

 

Gus considered this.  “We don’t usually invite the doctors either.”

 

Fred wobbled a bit on the stairs at that.  “So why me?”

 

Gus shrugged.  “You reached out to us first.”

 

“Huh.”  At that point Fred went quiet until she reached to bottom of the stairs.  When she got out of the building, she said, “I do OK on the straight away.  I could take her from you, if you need to go.”

 

Gus stiffened, “Are you trying to get rid of me, Doc?  ‘Cuz I know you have stairs to climb once you get home.”

 

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

 

Gus laughed quietly.  “Doc, there ain’t no way you could make me do anything I don’t want.”

 

As they walked, Gus filled her in on the local landmarks they passed.  Including which diner to avoid and what to order from the one he liked.  When they passed the laundromat, he asked, “How do you do laundry?’

 

“Same as anyone else. Why?”

 

“I was wondering how you carry the laundry up and down the stairs.”

 

Fred snorted.  “I am a master as sliding a laundry basket down the stairs and up is easier for me.”

 

Gus frowned.  “Up is  _ easier _ ?  How does that work?”

 

Fred shrugged, “It has to do with which muscles I’m using.”

 

“Huh.”  Gus thought about that, but sure enough when they got to her building, Fred could walk more or less normally up the stairs.  Her right leg moved a little slower, but not excessively so. When the got to her door, she unlocked it and tossed her purse inside.  Then to Gus’s surprise she reached up and took Mac from him.

 

Cradling her daughter, Fred said, “Thanks for your help Gus.”  The she smiled a little nervously at him and said, “Have a good night,” before going into her apartments and pushing the door closed with her hip.

 

Gus considered this.  Well, he had said he wasn’t inviting himself in.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please?


	5. The Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fred has some trouble at work.

Mikhail was a stereotypical dwarf, so much so that Fred wondered if it was an act. He was, well, short, with a bushy but tidy beard and eyebrows and tended to wear a helmet, even though they were inside. He was currently frowning at her, “I thought you had an apartment, Doc.”

 

Fred sighed.  “I do, but it is a short term rental.  I only sighed for three months until my probation period at the hospital is up.  I knew the fifth floor wasn’t sustainable for the long term, but it was all I could get at the time.  If you have something to rent over the store it would be closer to Mac’s school and to the ground. I’m… not always so good at stairs.”

 

“Are you staying after your probation?”

 

“I…” Fred had to stop and think about that.  It had been a tough day. One of the Altamira boys had brought in sixteen street walkers.  And while Fred was happy to see them getting care, she had found two cases of syphilis and there was no way to trace the contacts and that was just the obvious stuff.  None of the blood work had come back yet. She rationally knew that STI’s turned up everywhere. But it was so disheartening to know that she was treating the women, then sending them back out to be reinfected.

 

Mikhail harrumphed.  “Come talk to me when you are sure.”

 

Fred shook her head.  “I can’t stay long term in my current place.  I can’t commit to the job if I don’t have a place where I can live.”

 

Mikhail shook his head, “You can’t sign a lease if you don’t have permanent employment.  I have rental I show to renters, not tourists.”

 

Fred sighed and nodded.  “I understand.”

 

She turned to leave, when Mikhail asked, “How did you even hear about the place?”

 

Fred froze.  “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.  Someone suggested I talk to you, is all.”

 

“Yes, I would expect so.  Who was doing the suggesting?”

 

“Someone I met at a dinner party.”

 

“Dorghu?” Mikhail demanded, clear upset by the idea.

 

Fred’s eye went wide, “No…  someone named Gus. I think he lives here.”

 

Mikhail relaxed and grunted in acknowledgement  “Come talk to me at the end of your probation,” he repeated. 

 

\----

 

Fred had a clinic space inside the hospital.  She saw had ten booked appointments a day and as many walk in patients as she could see.  But something unexpected started happening. Once she had seen a… non-human in her clinic, the Emerg doctors would call her to treat them if they came in during office hours.

 

It wasn’t that she minded doing stitches or assessing for broken bones, but it was a problem when she was called out of her clinic to do it.  She was currently in a meeting with the administration about it.

 

“When I signed my contract, I made it very clear that I wasn’t working outside office hours,”  she pointed out.

 

The administrator said, you haven’t been called to the ER outside of office hours.”

 

“No, but if I have ten appointments and twenty people registered, I can’t see the patients in my clinic and run down to emerg at the same time.  I keep getting called for things the ER docs should be able to handle. It doesn’t take special skills to access for a broken foot, or apply the cast or stitch a cut or bandage a burn.”

 

“If they are your patient-”

 

“My having seen them once doesn’t make them my patients.  I checked the records, every time I was called there was another physician working who had more contact with the patient I was called to treat than I do.  I wasn’t hired as an emergency medicine doctor. That isn’t my specialty. The hospital is being put in a precarious position regarding liability if I am treating patients in the ER.”

 

Now she was speaking administrator.  The man leaned back in his chair and sighed.  “Ok. How do we fix this.”

 

Fred thought about that.  “If you give me a treatment room and an ER nurse, I will take patients requiring suturing or casting, as walk ins around my appointments.  But if I agree to that, the calls to the ER have to stop. AND I want a guarantee, in writing, that I will only see patients who seek me out.  I don’t want the ER referring people to me. Plus, when I stop registering people for my clinic the ER has to take the overflow. They shouldn’t be dumping the more problematic patients on me.”

 

The man sneered, “If you can’t handle the demographics of this neighbourhood, then-”

 

“Oh, don’t you dare!  Every single person I have been called to treat was wearing Fogtooth gear.  I’m not the one who can’t handle the local demographics. You need to talk to your emergency room staff about refusing treatment based on religion.”

 

“The Fogtooth Gang isn’t a religion.”

 

“Are you sure?  They have a church and a clergy and regularly scheduled services.  It wouldn’t be hard for one of them to get a lawyer and -” she was cut off as the man went white as a ghost before interrupting.

 

“Don’t suggest that!”

 

Fred just shrugged.  “I came here because of the promise that I could work hours where my kid was either in school or after school care.  I’ve only been here a couple of weeks and your staff is already pushing the boundaries of that. I am asking you to sort that out.”

 

They both stared at each other for a few moments.  Then Fred said, “Look, someone asked me yesterday if I was going to be staying and I honestly couldn’t answer that.  The position I am in was vacant for two years before I took it. I don’t have a problem with the job as described. I have a problem with other people trying to off load their work on me.  I can do my job. But I can’t also do theirs.”

 

“I will look into it.  Good day, Dr, Underhill.”

 

Fred just felt exhausted as she left.  Patients were easy, it was the bureaucracy that was hard.  And as if to emphasize her point, she wasn’t even out of her chair when she was paged to the emergency room.  She raised an eyebrow at the administrator. He frowned and said, “Go back to work. I’ll handle that.”

 

\----

 

The called to the emergency room stopped at once, which was more than Fred could have hoped for.  The rest got complicated. Another physician joined her clinic with a “specialty” in human medicine.  The man was to total asshole and frequently teased Fred about being a vet.

 

Well, he did until a orc overheard him.  He wasn’t at work the next day and when he came back he had two black eyes and a broken nose he wasn’t willing to talk about.

 

Apropo of nothing, the day he was missing, Fred treated Frank for a boxer’s fracture.

 

While her practice was technically open to everyone, the other doctor saw all the walk in patients that were human, effectively leaving her with the other patients.  Mostly orcs. Kate pointed out one day that she was effectively becoming the family doctor for the Fogtooth clan.

 

Fred looked over at her beaten colleague and wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

 

The next day Dorghu came in.  He refused to tell Kate what it was regarding.  Fred was .. concerned when she stepped into the exam room.

 

“What can I do for you, Dorghu?”

 

“I have a cough.”

 

Fred frowned.  “OK. How long have you had a cough?”

 

Dorghu’s ears dipped with worry.  “A month. I’ve never been sick before.”

 

“OK, well, can I have a listen to your chest?”

 

He pulled off his shirt revealing a lot of muscles, a fair number of scars and a hint of middle aged spread.  “I… uh… I’m a smoker.”

 

“I noticed. I’m going to need you to stop talking and just take a couple of deep breaths.”  

 

Dorghu managed two before he interrupted her, “Orc’s still get lung cancer.”

 

She suddenly looked up into his eyes.  The man was genuinely worried. “Yes, they do,” she said softly, “but we have a lot of tests to do before I can diagnose that.  Should we be talking about smoking cessation?”

 

“Uh… yeah… maybe.  I need… I can’t let anyone know I might be sick-”

 

“I don’t gossip about my patients.”

 

“What about your staff?”

 

“I haven’t had any complaints or any reason to suspect them.”  

 

Dorghu grunted.

 

Fred went back to listening to his chest.  “It sounds clear, Dorghu, but it would be good to get an x-ray to be sure.”

 

Dorghu nodded.  Fred handed him the req.  If you get that done now, we can look at it together five minutes after it’s done.”

 

Dorghu didn’t say anything as he grabbed the req and left.

 

Fred saw two more people before he was back.  She took him into the x-ray viewing station. “Your lungs look clear.  I’ll get a report from the radiologist in a couple of days, but this looks and sounds like a viral cough.  That’s the good news.”

 

“What’s the bad news?”

 

“Viral coughs can last upto three months.”

 

“Fuck.  So what do I do?”

 

“Well, you can either just ignore it, or you can use some cough syrup at night.  The tricky thing is that if you start using the cough syrup a lot-”

 

“It’s addictive,” he finished.

 

“Yeah.  And lighting up is only going to irritate your lungs more.”

 

Dorghu leaned back.  “OK. Give me the stop smoking stuff.  I can blame quitting smoking on my mate, she’s the one who badgered me into coming in the first place.”

 

Fred grinned a little, “I’ll let the two of you negotiate that part.”

 

“Thanks Doc.  How’s apartment shopping going?”

 

“It’s going.  People keep telling me to wait until my probation is up before I sign a lease.”

 

Dorghu’s eyes narrowed.  “Are you expecting to not make your probation?”

 

Fred shrugged.  “Not really. So far the administration has been very accommodating.”

 

“I haven’t heard the same about the other doctors.”

 

Fred suddening looked hard at him.  “I don’t worry about them. I take care of my daughter and myself first, then my patients.  The other doctors are not my problem.”

 

He gave a half snort half laugh.  “Alright. I certainly have no complaints.”

 

Fred froze.  “I hope that if you do, we can talk through them together.”

 

Dorghu sniffed.  “I making you nervous, Doc?”

 

“Yeah.  That’s the point right?  The clan leader has to be awe inspiring.”

 

Dorghu chucked to himself and said, “Speaking of Clan Leader jobs.  I organized a ride home for you.” He held up his hand to stop her objection.  “Clean, safe car, with a carseat for your kid. He’ll pick you up at the hospital, wait while you get your kid and see you safely to your apartment.”

 

“I don’t want a chauffeur.”

 

Dorghu shrugged and offered her a card with a phone number printed on it.  “You ever need a ride or any help, you call Gus. He’s on stand by for you.”

 

Fred didn’t take the card.  “I don’t like owing people favours.”

 

Dorghu frowned.  “Me neither. But you are staying and you are taking care of my people when no one else wanted to.  I don’t like owing you for that. This will help make us even. Now take the damn card.”

 

Fred did.  After he left, she went to throw it away, but something made her drop it in the bottom of her purse instead.

 

Gus was not waiting for her when she left work that day.  She didn’t see him when she picked up Mac. On the way way home she decided she was too tired to cook, so she took Mac to the diner Gus had recommended.  It wasn’t like she was looking for him She just didn’t want to have to cook or do dishes.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gus will be back next chapter, but you will have to wait until Thursday for it.
> 
> In the mean time, so me some love.
> 
> Also.... how much back story on Fred and Gus do you want? I have a bunch. I will take questions on my very poor tumblr: 
> 
> https://pixel-runner.tumblr.com


	6. The Babysitter

 

It was the week before the next Fogtooth block party.  Fred and Tianda were sitting at a local school yard, sipping coffees from the local coffee shop, Undergrind, and watching the kids play “the ground is lava.”

 

Fred gasped as Brayden launched himself from one decrepit play structure to another, trying to follow Mac.  He didn’t make it. She started to stand up when Tianda put a careful hand on her arm. He brushed himself off, looked at his skinned elbow, shrugged and went right back to playing.  Fred relaxed. 

 

One of the other orc moms snickered and came over.  “Our kids might not be able to jump like yours, but they can take a fall better.  I’m Aiesha, my youngest son, Marcus, is a year older than Mac. Are you coming to the block party Doc?”

 

“Please to meet you.”  Fred shook Aiesha’s hand.  She had come to understand that the locals found it weird, but by the time she learned that, it had already been established as her thing.  Now, people looked at her weird as they shook her hand or looked at her weird if she didn’t offer to shake their hand. “I’m planning on going to the barbeque, but the after party isn’t really my style, and I still haven’t found a babysitter.” She turned to Tianda, and added, “The twins could sleep over if-”

 

Tianda interjected with, “I could watch Mac, if you wanted to go.  I’m not moving fast enough to party these days.” She laughed and rubbed her belly.

 

Fred shook her head.  Aiesha grinned, “If you’re staying home, you two should set up a creche and take in a few kids for the night.”

 

Tianda grinned, “Sure!”

 

Fred coughed, “Um… you are ready to pop at any moment.  Block party is always during full moon. That is the classic time to go into labour.”

 

“You could always stay with me, Doc.  You, me, our kids and seven or eight of their friends.  Make a movie night out of it.”

 

Fred considered this.  “OK. But at your place.  If that time bomb goes off,” she pointed to Tianda’s belly, “I don’t want to have to get you down five flights of stairs.”

 

\----

 

Fred brought a big bowl Mac’s favourite tomato, broccoli and avocado salad to the barbeque that Saturday.  It was gone in minutes. There was a different orc on the grill this time. Fred hung out and talked with the other neighbourhood moms as the kids ran around playing tag.

 

Gus wandered over and handed Fred a hamburger.  She looked up and said thank you. The dark and freckled orc smiled down and her and rumbled, “I hear you’re on child care duty with Tianda and me tonight.”

 

Fred nodded at the start of the sentence and choked on the end of it.  “Oh. I didn’t know we were having extra help.”

 

Gus grinned, “There are a few more kids than you were originally expecting.”

 

“O...kay…”  Honestly, Fred had no idea what else to say.

 

\----

 

It turned out there were only ten kids, but they were all under the age of eight.   Tianda put on a movie and set out some bowls of chips and the kids call crowded around the TV, sitting on the couch, the arms of the couch, squashing into the chairs and two oldest girls laying on their bellies on the floor.

 

Fred was pretty sure Gus was trying to flirt, which was interesting in a weird way.  Orc flirting and human flirting didn’t really work the same. Or maybe it did and it was just so long since she had been dating that she didn’t remember.

 

About the time he passed her a soda while flexing his arm muscles, she lost her battle not to laugh.  That knocked him down and peg and she immediately regretted it. “I’m sorry. You have lovely arm muscles.  I’m just not someone you need to flex for. I haven’t been on a date since before Mac was born. I’m not particularly looking to break my streak.”

 

Gus sagged and looked at Tianda who smirked.

 

“What am I missing?” Fred asked.  They both gave her innocent looks that she didn’t believe for a moment.  “Why do I get a feeling Tianda just won a bet?”

 

“Because I kinda did.  I told him it would take more than that to make you blush.”  Tianda gave Fred a leer, then laughed and patted her cheek. “There it is!  It’s so cute!”

 

Fred laughed too.  “God, it’s been awhile since anyone called me cute.  But c’mon! Orcs blush! I don’t see the novelty.”

 

Tianda shrugged, “It is WAY more noticeable on you doc.”

 

“So, what inspired the who can make Fred blush contest?”  Fred asked. Then she laughed again, “Now you two are blushing.”

 

“Would you consider breaking your streak if I wasn’t an orc?”

 

Now Fred stopped laughing.  “That isn’t the problem. But that’s easy to say and it doesn’t really tell the story.  Look, in my early twenties, when I was in university, I would have been flattered by the attention.  You would have gotten a first date and who knows? When I was in my late twenties, I was in my residency and so sleep deprived I wasn’t dating anyone.  Mac’s father was in the same program as me and we hung out. I turned 30 and we were still spending most of our time with together. We got married. I got pregnant.  I think I set a new standard for messy divorce. Now I work forty plus hours a week and have a kid to look after. That doesn’t really leave any time to date. Nevermind that anyone who might ask me out has to understand that they will be playing second fiddle to Mac.  There are plenty of fish in the sea, but I will only ever have one minnow.”

 

Fred couldn’t read Gus’s face, but Tianda said nervously, “Mac said your ex tried to kill you.”

 

Now Gus was shocked.

 

“Yeah, sort of.  In reality, he was likely trying to kill her.  I was seven months pregnant. He decided he wasn’t ready to be a father.  He faked a home invasion one night and attacked me with a baseball bat while I was sleeping.  Broke my pelvis in three places, shattered my femur. Then he ‘found’ me and called 911. Mac was delivered by emergency c-section and I had six surgeries to wire my bones back together.  

 

“But criminal mastermind he was not.  They found the ‘stolen’ jewelry in his car.  The neighbours security camera proved no one else had entered the house and the he confessed when the cops confronted him.  His trial was over and he was convicted before I was able to walk again.

 

“So, yeah, I have terrible taste in men and it is likely safer for everyone if I just stay off the market.  And as a not so subtle segue, Gus, what’s your story?”

 

Gus shrugged. “I graduated from high school, joined the navy. After three years, I became a frogman for ten years.  Retired. Ended up running a security business. I have eight full time employees.” Gus shrugged. “I do OK.”

 

Fred frowned, “I’m not familiar with the phrase frogman.”

 

Tianda explained, “He means Navy Seal.”

 

“OK!  That I have heard of.”

 

Further discussion was ending by one of the toddlers stumbling over and pulling on Gus’s hand.  The comparatively giant man, knelt down, then bent down further to hear what the little boy had to say.  Then with a startled look on his face, Gus took the sprog for a diaper change. 

 

Tianda chuckled.  “A man who changes diapers is a man worth keeping, Doc.”

 

Fred raised an eyebrow, “Is Gus looking to be a kept man?”

 

Tianda gasped, then burst out laughing.

 

\----

 

The plan was to keep the kids overnight, then to walk everyone down to the Church of Jirak’s Light for Sunday service at 11.  The parents were going to pick the kids up there. Fred had planned on sleeping in Briella’s bed, but she wasn’t sure what Gus was doing.

 

It turned out he was planning on sleeping in Brayden’s bed.

 

The twins shared a room.

 

The full weight of that was settling in on Fred as she and Mac were brushing their teeth.  Fred was planning on sleeping in an oversized t-shirt that was easy to stuff in her purse. She didn’t really care if Tianda saw her legs, but…

 

Aw hell!  Well, it would solve the flirty orc problem at least.  

 

The lights were out, the kids were in various stages of unconsciousness.  Gus was drinking beer like someone blessed with extra ALDH. Tianda and Fred had peppermint tea.  The two orcs were catching Fred up on the neighbourhood gossip. Apparently just before Fred had arrived there had been something happen with the Magical Task Force and possibly a Bright.  Tianda wasn’t clear on the details. Gus was keeping his cards close to his chest in a way that suggested, to Fred at least, that he knew more than he was saying.

 

Finally, Tianda pried herself out of her chair and said good night.  Gus stood up, looked at Fred and sat back down. “You need me to sleep out here doc?”

 

Fred sighed.  “Nah. You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before.  You stay in your bed, I’ll stay in mine and it will be fine.”

 

Gus nodded slowly.  “Yeah, I guess as a doctor, you’ve seen it all.”

 

“Pretty much.  No one makes it through their first year of healthcare without having unexpected nudity thrust upon them.  The more important thing is whether everyone can be polite about it.”

 

Gus considered this.  Fred changed in the bathroom and washed her face.  She didn’t wear a lot of makeup, but enough that she wasn’t about to sleep in it. Plus cleaning up raccoon eyes in the morning wasn’t worth skipping running a baby wipe over her face tonight.  When she came out, Gus did a double take staring at her leg, before blushing and yanking his eyeline back up to her face.

 

“Yeah.  I know.”

 

“That’s a hell of a lot more ink than I could ever imagined you having.” Gus blurted out.  Then he seemed to realize what he said and added, “It’s great though. Real pretty.”

 

Fred snorted.  “It camouflages a bunch of surgical scars.  It was away taking back my skin.” 

 

“How… Um... “

 

“The usual way.”  Gus gaped at her, Fred actually found that adorable.  She would have thought a military man would be as jaded as a healthcare worker.  “I’m sorry, Gus. What were you going to ask?”

 

“How, um… big is that?”

 

Fred shrugged.  “Top of my knee to the top of my pelvis.  More or less. Anyway. Bathroom is yours if you want to wash up.  I’m going to sleep now.”

 

\----

 

The Doc had been cute, smart and sexy before, Gus had no idea how he was going how he was going to handle the new information.  All he wanted to do was peel her out of the Warcraft t-shirt and explore the tattoo. Possibly with his tongue. He could see t he bottom of the Rod of Asclepius and a school of some sort of goldfish swimming around her thigh.  He wondered what the rest was like.

 

Jirak damn it.

 

Listening to her talk to Dorghu had been interesting enough.  She had a pragmatic cynicism that he had previously only found in ex-military.  And her brand of gallows humour matched his own.

 

If he ended up courting her, his dad would be disappointed he wasn’t pursuing an orcess.  He thought his mom would understand. 

 

Except, she didn’t want to be courted.

 

And this is where he was torn.  He wanted to respect that. But on the other hand, when she was talking about her history, she had smelled sad, but also a little afraid.  Maybe she just needed some help losing that fear.

 

This wasn’t going to be a quick tumble.  But he got the impression that the Doc was worth the effort. 

 

Except, now he had gone and stepped in it.  It had been a fun idea, sharing a room with her when he thought all it would take to get her all hot and bothered was a little showing off.  That had completely backfired. She had just laughed it off and he was suddenly fixated on the shape of her legs and all that gorgeous ink she had on her.  Gus loved tattoos, but given that his skin tone wranged from dark blue to midnight…. Well, he had some tribal work done on his shoulder. It was certainly visible while it was healing, but barely there now. 

 

The more he learned about her, the more he liked.

 

He just had to go with care.  Dorghu would have his balls if he scared her off.

  
  



	7. The Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the FogTooth party.

###  Chapter - The Breakfast

 

After years in service, Gus still woke up every morning at six am.  This time he rolled over to face the wall and wait for his morning wood to get the hint and go down.  Barely any time later, Fred got up and left the room.

 

Of fucking course she would have to be an early bird.

 

He lay still and quiet and listened to her mumbling to herself as she tried to figure out Tianda’s coffee maker.  After a while he could smell coffee and toast. He heard Mac wake up and her mom tell her to be careful not to wake the others.  He could hear when Fred pushed back her chair and pulled Mac into her lap. Hear Fred humming softly to Mac, or sipping her coffee.  The scrape of a butter knife on toast.

 

His stomach grumbled.  Well, she was out of the room.  He got up, pulled on his pants. Adjusted himself so he could do up his fly and headed to the bathroom to “shower.”

 

When he was done, he dried off and headed out to the kitchen.  

 

Fred handed him a black coffee and said, “My turn in the shower.  You’re in charge.”

 

Gus froze as she walked past him, then frowned at the coffee.  He didn’t really drink the stuff unless he made it. He was used to military grade coffee.  He took a hesitant sip. Then a bigger one.

 

O...kay…

 

So apparently hospital grade coffee was about the same.

 

He looked down at her mug.  She had milk in hers. Then he noticed Mac looking up at him.  “You need something, kid?”

 

“Can we make pancakes?”

 

Gus considered this as he drank his coffee.  “Yeah. I think I can manage that.”

 

\----

 

Fred came out of the shower well scrubbed, dressed and ready to face the day.

 

Mostly.

 

She wasn’t expecting to find Gus and Mac ransacking Tianda’s kitchen.  “What are you doing?” she said softly.

 

Gus looked guilty.  Mac announced happily, “He’s gonna make me pancakes!”

 

Fred sighed.  “OK. But you have to wait until it is proper wake up time.  No major projects before 8am. We want to let the kids sleep as long as we can get away with.  And goodness knows Tianda could use the rest.” She peeked in the fridge. “We are going to need to buy butter, eggs and milk.  Did you find flour, baking powder and salt?”

 

Mac looked wided eye up at her mum and nodded.

 

Fred looked thoughtfully at Gus, “Do you want to go get eggs, butter and milk, or should I?”  Gus just stared at her. Fred blinked. “I’m sorry. This is your project and I am butting in.”

 

Gus adjusted his shoulders making his neck crack.  In Orc society, there was a big difference between the kid asking him for pancakes and a single female asking him to provide for her.  He wondered idly if she knew that or if this was an incident of cultural differences. Then he rumbled softly. “I’ll go get butter milk and eggs, in a while so that I don’t wake the kids getting you to buzz me in when I get back.”

 

Gus watched carefully as Fred nodded and poured herself another cup of the gloriously tar like coffee.  She added a splash of milk and took a sip with a happy sigh. “You like your coffee like that?” he asked.

 

Fred blushed and looked uncomfortable.  “Oh! Sorry! You may want to add some hot water to yours.  I started drinking coffee as a resident. Horrible thick stuff that was left on the burner all night.  I just sort of developed a taste for it. Of course, now that I’m getting old, my cast iron stomach isn’t what it used to be and I need a little milk in it these days.”

 

“You keep saying you’re old, but there is no way you are that old.”

 

“Well, old is relative, right?  Tianda has two and a half kids and she is only 23.  I’m 37.”

 

Gus laughed, “Now I am insulted!  You don’t get to go around complaining about being old when you only have two years on me!”

 

Fred shrugged, “They say you are only as old as you feel.  I feel like someone with a replacement hip.”

Gus just snorted at that, scenting her in the process.  Hmm… she smelled pleased. He could work with that. “If you give me your number, I could text you when I’m back and you could buzz me in without my having to use the intercom and wake the kids.”

 

And, just like that, she put her number into his phone.  Like it was nothing. Gus grinned all the way down to the street.

 

Of course he put his resting murder face on as soon as he stepped out the door.

 

Mikhail was working behind the counter this morning.  Gus nodded at him as he picked up the eggs, milk and butter and a pound of bacon.  Kids always eat bacon.

 

...Unless she kept kosher.

 

Um…

 

No!  Don’t overthink this!  Bacon. Someone will eat it and he knew the secret to perfect bacon.

 

As he paid, Mikhail said, “You want the Doc moving in next to you?  The number of girls you bring home? The number of times you come home bloody? You want her to see that?”

 

Gus just frowned and threw don’t some cash for the groceries.  “Don’t comment on my life, old man. It isn’t healthy.”

 

Mikhail just chuckled.

 

\----

 

Fred was exhausted.  Gus... clearly wasn’t used to little kids.  She couldn’t believe he has let the three year old try to pour her own syrup.  She spent a lot of time washing sticky off the kids and Tianda made Gus wash the floor.

 

And the walls.

 

And that bit of ceiling.

 

Sigh.

 

Oh well, they just had to drop everyone off at the Orc church and she could be on her way.  She winced as one of the dads picked up a tot and wrinkled his nose before asking, “Why do you have Aunt Jemima’s behind your ears?”

 

Well, that was it.  All the kids had been collected.  Time to go. She turned around and nearly bounced off a very tall, very black human. “Oh!  Excuse me! I am so sorry.” The man frowned at her. Fred took an extra step back. He had to be close to seven feet tall.  A large orc woman standing next to him, put her hand on his arm and murmured something Fred didn’t quite get in French. She tried again, “Excusez-moi! Je suis vraiment désolé!”

 

Now they both stared at her.  “Your accent is terrible!” the woman said.

 

Fred blushed.  “Well, I have been assured that Canadian French sounds like a quacking duck, so…”

 

The man laughed and offered Fred his hand.  “I am Gerard. You must sit with us during service.”

 

Fred, who had been in the process of shaking his hand, suddenly froze.  “Um… I’m not a member of the congregation, I’m afraid.”

 

The woman smiled.  “Everyone is welcome today.”

 

“Uh… OK.  Will my daughter and I be able to follow what is going on?  I don’t want to offend anyone by not standing in the right places.”

 

The orc woman put her arm around the small of Fred’s back and said, “We will make sure you do not offend.”

 

Fred took Mac’s hand and allowed them to be guided into the building.  From the outside, is was a rather run down human looking church. On the inside it was heavily decorated with antlers.  The very idea of how many deer had died for the decor made her head swim. She realized the woman was talking to her.

 

“I’m sorry!  I got distracted by the … “ she waved her hand, indicating everything.  

 

The woman smiled.  “You should see it during the feast of lights.  Everything is lit by candles and the shadows absolutely dance.”  Her eyes twinkled as she said, “You are the new doctor of Orc medicine, is that correct?”

 

Fred nodded.

 

The man was suddenly staring at her, frowning even harder.  It was an intimidating sight. Mac held her hand a little tighter.

 

“Are you going to stay?” he rumbled in a deep voice that was somehow familiar.

 

Fred nodded slowly.  “I plan to, but things don’t always go according to plan.”

 

Now they both smiled and the man leaned slightly down to kiss the woman.  “I did not plan to fall in love with an Orc in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where interracial marriages are illegal.  I did not plan on smuggling my pregnant wife half around the world so that she would be allowed to carry to term. Life does not follow a plan.”  Then he sighed and looked sad for a moment. “I did not plan on raising a son in a country that sees orcish boys as disposible, either.”

 

The woman caught him around the back of his neck and pulled his forehead to hers.  “We are OK. We have survived. Jirak has a plan for our family. You will see.”

 

Gerard snorted in disgust.  The woman just rolled her yellow eyes and grinned around her tusks.  “I am Imani,” she said.

 

“Uh… I’m Fred.  This is Mac. Um… we aren’t usually church goers.”

 

They both nodded.  “Young people today have no time for the old ways.” Gerard grumbled.  

 

Imani laughed, “Ignore him.  He is just a grumpy old man. He is upset because our son did not attend the feast last night.  And now, we do not see him at church. He is afraid our son will be lured away by a woman. That he will forget our ways.”

 

Fred considered this, “And what do you think?”

 

Imani shrugged.  “Our son is half orc and half human.  It is not easy being the product of a mixed marriage.  Still, he has the respect of Dorghu and that counts in this community.”  She thought for a moment before adding, “You have that respect too. Do not take it for granted.”

 

Fred’s eyes went wide as that sank in.  Then Mac pulled on her arm and pointed to the front of the church where an orc wearing a ceremonial robe and a mask made from a deer skull stood.  He raised his arms and began to sing in Bodzvokhan. The congregation sang a reply.

 

Mac climbed into Fres lap and nuzzled into her neck.  She whispered, “Mum, I can’t understand what they are saying.”

 

Fred cuddled her daughter and whispered.  “Think of it like the operas Grandman use to take us to.”

 

Imani leaned over and gave whispered commentary on the rest of the service after that.  Gerard’s bass voice sang out clear and loud and it really was beautiful chorus.

 

After service was done, Imani gave both Fred and Mac two kisses and said. “It was lovely to meet you!  We will have to have you over for dinner some time, Dr Underhill. You can meet our son. He is a very handsome boy.”

 

Fred chuckled.  “I’m sure he is, Imani, but I am not looking for a handsome boy.”

 

“Better than looking for an ugly one,” Gerard grumbled, but Fred had come to understand this was his way of teasing.

 

Imani ignored Fred’s objections, “Congolese cooking is the best of French, Arabic and Asian.  I am a good cook and Mac will enjoy learning to eat stew with my bukari.”

 

Fred smiled, “We will see what we can arrange.  It was lovely to meet you, but I’m afraid we have to go now.”

 

“We will see you again, Doctor Fred.” Imani called with a wave.

 

\----

 

Gus was a brave man.  He had seen war. He had stared down Dorghu.  He was a big man in the orc community. The only things that made him nervous were talking to women when he wanted more than a quick fuck.  And disappointing his parents.

 

And now the woman he want more from than a quick fuck was sitting in the middle of his church chatting quietly with his parents.  He hid at the back of the hall as his brain shorted out. In his defence, this was the only reason Umhra was able to sneak up next to him and give him a flick round the ear hole.

 

“Hey!”

 

Umhra chuckled.  “Now, tell me why you thought it was a good idea to hand an open bottle of pancake syrup to my three year old.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Please?


	8. The Matchmaker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match!

###  CHAPTER - The Matchmaker

That week, on Monday, Imani came into talk to Fred about mammograms.  And invite her for family dinner on Friday. Fred booked a mammogram and encouraged Imani to talk to her friends about it.  Orcs were less likely to get breast cancer but more likely to die from it.

 

She politely declined dinner.

 

The next day, she was picking up Mac from school and Gerard caught her walking down the street .  And invited her to dinner. Fred laughed. “Ask me again in a couple of weeks.”

 

On her way home from the school, she and Mac stopped to buy fruit from Mikhail.  Gus was at the counter complaining.

 

“- but heaven forbid I should think my love life was my business!  No! Mom has got to try to introduce me to every new single woman she meets.”

 

Fred gasped, then laughed, “Oh my god!  I am so glad it isn’t just me! Honestly, is matchmaking an orc hobby?  People keep turning up with, ‘Come for dinner and meet my son! He’s such a nice boy!’  I keep saying no, but-”

 

Gus shook his head. “That doesn’t work.  And neither does claiming to be gay. Then they will just want you to meet their friends daughter.”

 

Fred laughed, “Have you tried that?”

 

Gus hung his head.  “Yes. When I was sixteen. My mom knew I was lying.  My dad knew someone with a son who had just come out.  He suggested we go to a movie together.”

 

Fred shook her head and looked down at Mac, “If I ever try to fix you up, I give you permission to kick me in the shins.”

 

Mac’s eyes went wide and she nodded solemnly.

 

Gus gave Fred a thoughtful look.  “Tell you what, Doc. How about you and Mac and I all go for dinner.  That will maybe keep the matchmakers off us for a while.”

 

Fred smiled. “You know, I think I would enjoy a friendly night out with a nice guy who doesn’t invite himself home.”

 

Gus nodded, “I can do that.”  Fred nodded. “Tonight? Nico’s at 8?”

 

Mac shook her head vigorously, “It’s a school night.  I have to be in bed at 8.”

 

Fred grinned. “What she said.”  She looked at her phone. “It’s getting late tonight.  Um… OK, look, I’m sure you have plans, but if by any chance you could do Friday, I would love to have something booked so I can avoid being badgered to dinner that night.”

 

Gus beamed, “Yes!  I also want to avoid prime Friday night matchmaking.  Can I pick you up at your place at six?”

 

“Absolutely.  Fair warning though.  I’m not wearing heels or a dress.”

 

Gus shrugged, “I don’t own a tie.”

 

“OK!  It’s not a date!” Fred said, looking happy.

 

Gus smiled, “I’ll see you then.”

 

Gus left.  Fred paid for her fruit and left.  Mikhail turned to his assistant and said.  “It is very much a date. THAT is what denial looks like.”

 

——

 

Wednesday, Fred was a few minutes late for work. Kate gave her an odd look. 

 

“What?” Fred asked checking to see if her fly was open. 

 

“You have a message. Imari wants to know if you can come for dinner the following Thursday.  Who’s Imani?”

 

Fred shrugged, “a woman who I’m sure is perfectly lovely. But also wants me to date her son.”

 

“Oh. One of those.”  Kate thought for a moment.  “I’ll try to screen your calls more carefully.”

 

“Thanks Kate. Hey, if you are looking, feel free to invite yourself over.  I hear he is a very nice boy.”

 

Kate flicked her tongue at Fred in disgust. Fred laughed and went to see her first patient. 

 

——

 

Friday night, Fred was not wearing a dress, but she was wearing the skinny jeans that made her ass look amazing.  Also a cute camisole and a surprisingly tailored cardigan. She looked good, but not too dressed up. 

 

She frowned in the mirror and picked out some plain hoop earrings and a natural shade of lipstick.  She decided to go with waterproof mascara and eyeliner but leave off the eyelashes. 

 

Ok. She was ready. 

 

Now she just had to wait. 

 

Why was she so nervous?  This wasn’t a date. 

 

——

 

Gus’s mom had freaked when he said her wasn’t coming for dinner Friday night.  Then she tried to grill him about what he was doing. 

 

The Navy had spent a lot of money training Seals not to crack under pressure. 

 

The Navy had never met his mom.  

 

Still, he managed to duck her questions. 

 

Other military skills he was employing tonight: ironing. He had picked out a blue dress shirt that was a little lighter than the his lightest shade of blue.  He picked out a pair of jeans that rode a little lower on his hips. He worked hard to have washboard abs. He wasn’t going to be like Rrollo and nearly paint his shirt on, but he didn’t mind subtly showing off. 

 

Gus wasn’t sure how he ended up circling the block in his truck four times before he actually went to her apartment.  He had been early. Jirak’s ghost! What was he? Fifteen? Or course, when he was fifteen it wasn’t his car he was circling the block in.

 

Ok.  He could do this!  She buzzed him into the building.  He walked up five flight of stairs.  Knocked on her door. She opened the door and...

 

Gus’s pheromones went off like a bomb.

 

“Hi!”  Fred said with a smile that quickly faded.  “Are you OK?” she asked, concerned.

 

Gus squared his shoulders and said, “I’m fine.  You look good.” Fuck. His voice has dropped almost two octaves.  Way to be smooth, bro.

 

“Thank you….  Um…. So…. is this where you politely tell me you have other plans?”

 

“No!  Why would you think that?”

 

“You… “ She trailed off and blushed.  Oh Jirak! She smelled amazing when she blushed.

 

Whatever she was going to say next was interrupted by Mac squeezing passed her mum and hugging Gus around his leg.   Having a kid with her nose right at groin level was the libido equivalent of being hit with a bucket of ice water. 

 

Gus coughed and looked down at the kid. “Hi munchkin!  Ready to go?”

 

“Yes!  Mum said I could wear my sparkle dress!  See!” The little girl twirled so her skirt spun out.  She also wobbled a bit. 

 

Fred rolled her eyes. 

 

Gus grinned, “Looking good, Mac!”

 

Fred grabbed her purse and stepped out into the hallway, locking her door behind her.  “So, Nico’s?”

 

Gus considered this, “I have a car seat for Mac. We could go anywhere.”  That was the wrong thing to say and he didn’t understand why. 

 

“Um… I would prefer to stay in the neighbourhood to be perfectly honest.”

 

“Sure thing!”  Gus offered her his arm and thought about that. She didn’t drive and she had never called for a ride. She was happier limping around the neighbourhood on a bad leg than calling him. Or a cab.  

 

He wondered if he should take it personally or if she was claustrophobic.  The way she was leaning on him suggested it wasn’t personal. She smelled a little afraid. But she was holding on to his arm with a death grip.  Still, it couldn’t hurt to ask, “Am I scaring you, Doc?”

 

She flinched then laughed.  “It’s not you, it’s stairs.” She sang it to a tune he didn’t recognize.  Then in a more normal voice said, “I hate walking down the stairs.”

 

Dinner conversation was small.  Fred didn’t talk about her marriage.  Gus didn’t talk about his time in the military.  Neither of them talked about work. 

 

Finally Mac got bored and asked if Gus had seen the new Spiderman movie.  Then proceeded to explain the entire plot line, out of order. Fred sighed and rolled her eyes over Mac’s head.  Gus grinned at her. Mac finished with, “And if you eat all your vebetables, you can come watch it at our place and eat ice cream after dinner!”  then she beamed at him.

 

That snapped Gus back into full attention.  Fred sighed. “Mac, honey, I’m sure Gus has other people to hang out with tonight.”

 

Mac turned and glared at him.  “Do you?” she demanded, as though it was a personal a front.

 

Gus stared down at his tiny interrogator in her princess sparkle dress.  The navy hadn’t prepped him for this either. He cleared his throat. “I promised your mama that I wouldn’t invite myself over after dinner.”

 

Mac relaxed.  “Oh! That’s OK then, because I’m inviting you!  We have chocolate icecream or the boring green one with nuts that mum likes.”  She thought for a moment, then added magnanimously, “I will share the chocolate with you, if you want.”

 

Gus looked up at Fred who was clearly fighting not to laugh.  She shrugged and nodded. “Well, how can I say no to an offer like that?”

  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments make me happy.


	9. The Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I did say slow burn, right?

Gus walked Fred and Mac home, half expecting Mac to have forgotten her invitation.  But when they got to Fred’s door, Mac tucked her hand into his and dragged him into their living room.  Gus sniffed, the whole place smelled mostly like febreeze but also like… something familiar that he couldn’t quite place.

 

Mac led him to the couch and had him sit in the middle.  Then she dove into a box full of Lego and came up with a remote.  She turned on the TV and plopped down on the couch next to him before Fred even had her boots off.

 

“Mac?  You need to go put your jammies on first.”

 

“Aw!  Mum!”

 

“Off you go,” Fred said gently.  Once Mac was out of ear shot, she turned to Gus and said, “You don’t have to stay just to be polite.  If you need to be somewhere else,-”

 

Gus held up his hand to stop that line of discussion.  “No. I don’t have anywhere I would rather be.” He tried to be subtle as he concentrated on her smell.  The damn fefreeze was in the way. “If you need me to leave, I won’t be offended. But I would rather not be the one who teaches Mac to expect men to run out on her when her back is turned.”

 

Somewhere in there was the right thing to say.  Fred smiled shyly at him and sat on his left. Mac came in, “Ice cream!” she announced.  Then looked at her mum and quickly added, “Please.”

 

Fred chuckled.  “There could be ice cream.  There could be popcorn. What there can’t be is both.”

 

“Ice cream, please!”

 

“Ok.  Gus, Mac is having ice cream and -” here she gave her daughter a comically pointed look that made the little girl giggle, “not eating my [your] popcorn!” they chorused, making Gus laugh.  “Which would you prefer?”

 

“Well, if we are watching a movie, I think popcorn is the way to go.”

 

Fred gave Mac an ‘I told you so’ look.  Mac stuck out her tongue at Fred, who laughed and went into the kitchen.  Gus followed. He still couldn’t quite place the smell. It didn’t matter.  It was getting stronger the longer he was here. He would figure it out. Fred through a bag of popcorn into the microwave and got a carton of ice cream out of the crowded fridge freezer.  Two small scoops in a bowl went to Mac and Fred was back just in time for the popcorn to finish. She emptied the bag into a big bowl and handed it to Gus. “Beer?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Fred pulled out two bottles of beer and a can of root beer and headed to the living room.

 

Mac was almost done her ice cream.  “Sit next to me, Gus!” she called. Fred rolled her eyes.

 

Gus sat down with the popcorn in his lap and took the beer Fred offered him.  Peter Parker hadn’t even appeared on screen and Mac was already stealing popcorn.  Gus gave Fred a concerned look. Fred just smiled and shook her head. “I can always make more.”

 

By the time Mac was explaining that Penis Parker was very rude and even though a penis is just a body part, like an elbow, it makes people uncomfortable when you say it, Gus was shaking with suppressed laughter at the running commentary.  Fred leaned against him and it felt completely natural to put his arm around her. She snuggled into his side and nuzzled his chest in a way that would be scenting in an orc.

 

It was surprisingly comfortable.

 

Mac wound down and fell asleep with her head in his lap while Spider Man was trapped in the warehouse.  Fred got up and went to make more popcorn. While she was in the kitchen, he smiled down at the sleeping kid.  That was surprisingly comfortable too. He pushed a brown curl out of the girl’s face. That’s when he noticed the girl had lilac roots under her brown hair.  Gus froze and swallowed. Fred’s kid was half elf. That was what he was smelling.

 

Aw hell.  That meant the story about the kid’s father being in prison was completely bogus.  It also explained why Fred was hiding in a slum full of orcs. Fuck. 

 

Fred came back in and offered him another beer.

 

Gus knew exactly what he needed to do.  He took the beer and grinned up at the woman he was accepting personal responsibility for and said, “Thank, Doc.”

 

Fred smiled and clinked her bottle against his.  “Maybe now we can actually have some popcorn.”

 

Gus laughed softly at that.

 

They chatted softly through the rest of the movie.  Gus traded information about his past for a few details about Fred’s.  How her Grandfather had pushed her to go to medical school. There was something she wasn’t saying there.  She clearly did not like the man. Gus did his impression of his father’s reaction to him enrolling.

 

Fred clamped both hands over her mouth as her whole body shook with silent laughter.

 

The movie ended, Gus scooped up Mac and looked around for her room.  Fred led the way. He lay down in the little girl, Fred tucked her in and kissed her forehead.  The both snuck out quietly.

 

Gus looked down at Fred.  “Well, it’s only nine o’clock and I hear you have Thor: Rag-er-awk.”

 

Fred’s eyes twinkled up at him.  They were surprisingly blue for a human.  Hmmm.

 

“Sounds good to me,” she said.  “I just need a minute.” She ducked into the bathroom.  Gus took the opportunity to snoop a little. Lots of pictures of Mac or Fred and Mac.  None of anyone else. The fridge was covered in kid art. There was a sticky note with Tianda’s name and number as well as the contact information for people named Kate and Aiesha.

 

No sticky note with any male names.

 

He couldn’t smell anyone else in the place.  In fact, scenting the place, he might be the only male to ever have been in her apartment.

 

The place was clean but with that vague untidiness that showed a small child lived there.

 

Fred came out of the bathroom.

 

“My turn!” Gus announced.  In the bathroom, he turned on the tap and had a quick pee and washed his hands followed by a quick search of the place.

 

He found her vibrator.

 

OK.

 

Um.

 

Well, then.

 

He put it back where he found it before coming back out to the couch.

Gus had a surprisingly good time watching Thor with Fred.  She gave him the mission to go home and find the other movies from the same director on Netflix.

###  \----

Gus jerked awake when the movie ended.  Fred was passed out snuggled against him.  Gus considered this. He resolved to never, EVER admit he had woken first.

 

\----

 

Fred’s phone went off at six am.  She woke disoriented. When she realized she was using an unconscious Gus as a pillow, she swore softly.  Not softly enough. She sat up and turned off her alarm. Gus blinked awake and looked at her.

 

“Um.  Hi,” Fred whispered.

 

Gus smiled, “Morning Doc.  I think this is my queue to duck out before Mac wakes up, huh?”

 

Fred blushed.  “I’m sorry! I never do this!  I have no idea what the next morning protocol is.”

 

Gus, grinned at her.  “This isn’t my usual thing either.  So, how about I sneak out and call you this afternoon.”

 

Fred was pretty sure this was where she never heard from him again.  That was disappointing, but there was no way this was the kind of sleepover a man like Gus was used to.  “Sounds good.”

 

Gus stood up and headed to the door.  “I had a really good time last night, Doc,” he said as he put on his coat 

 

He sounded like he meant it, but really, like the man said, ‘Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.’  Still, Fred could honestly say, “I did too.”

 

And with that, he was gone.  Fred locked the door behind him and leaned against it.  She groaned and took a deep breath, taking in his smell.  Damn. OK. She had at least an hour before Mac woke up. That was plenty of time for a “bath” to take the edge off.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please


	10. The Patient

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thanks to Bonnietakesnosh-t for letting me borrow her awesome characters. Also dinner and cucumber discussion

Fred and Mac had brought a casserole over to Tianda and the kids on her way into work.  The poor woman was six days overdue and that wasn’t something Fred would wish on anyone.  It was Frank who answered the door. He gave Fred a long stare that made her more uncomfortable than it should.  Fred squeezed past him to head towards the fridge.

 

Tianda was pacing and rubbing her back.

 

“Everything OK, Tianda?”

 

“Yeah, I just have cramps.”

 

That got Frank’s attention off Fred.  “Whoa! What?!”

 

Tianda laughed, “I’ve been having false labour all week.  It’s fine. My midwife has already checked me out three times this week.”  Fred eyed her carefully. Tianda laughed again and gave her a gentle shove.  “I’m FINE. And besides I have a doctor right here.”

 

“I am not an obstetrician.”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

\----

 

Fred stayed for a few minutes to help get the kids ready for school.  She had offered to walk them to school with Mac. Fred looked around. “Where is Tianda?”

 

Frank shrugged, “She’s in the bathroom, said something about bad potato salad.”

 

Fred froze for a moment, then ran to the bathroom and pounded on the door, “Tianda?”

 

The only answer was a moan.  Fred rattled the door knob. “Tianda?  I need you to open the door!” Frank came over put one hand on each side of the door frame and pushed.  The door fell open. Tianda was sitting on the toilet and puking into the garbage can.

 

“That isn’t bad potato salad.  That’s active labour.”

 

Frank looked from one woman to the other, “What?”

 

“Baby’s coming.” Fred translated.

 

Frank looked startled.  “What do I do?”

 

Fred thought for a moment.  “Take the kids to school. I’ll help her get cleaned up, so we are ready to go to the hospital when you get back.”

 

\----

 

Fred didn’t get to stay with Tianda.  That’s what the midwife was for. But she popped in for updates throughout the day.  L&D nurses can suffer from compassion fatigue and having a Doctor check in now and then kept everyone their toes.

 

Fred would have been happy to catch the baby, but she hadn’t known Tiada when arrangements were being made.  It was amazing how after only a couple of months, the woman was now a good friend.

 

Mac was the last kid at daycare when Fred got there.  The very first thing she asked was “Did the baby come?”

 

“Yes!  Just now.  It’s a girl.”

 

Mac squealed and danced in a circle.  “Can we go see her?”

 

Fred smiled.  “No, sweetie, she is too new.  We have to wait a little while.”

 

“Can we go tell Gus?”

 

Fred put her hands on Mac’s shoulders so the girl would hold still for a moment.  “Mac. This is important. This isn’t our secret to tell. You need to let Brayden and Briella and Tianda tell people.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Mum?  Can we have ice cream for supper?”

 

Fred grinned, this was a game.  Mac always asked for ice cream or chocolate for dinner before making a slightly more reasonable request for KD with ketchup or PB&J.  Although, the last time Mac had ketchup, she complained it tasted different in the States. She pretended to think about it for a moment, “Nah, I think we should have liver and onions.”

 

“Mum!  That’s gross!”  Then Mac noticed the look on her mum’s face and laughed.  “Can we make pizza?”

 

“Make pizza?  That’s crazy talk!”

 

“But mum!  Mikhail sells pizza dough and mushrooms and we have ham and cheese.”

 

Fred considered this.  “Yeah. OK. We can do that.”

 

“Yay!”

 

As it turned out Gus was in the store buying apples.  Mac ran up to him and threw her arms around his leg and yelled, “Gus!  You will never guess-”

 

“Mac!” Fred barked.

 

“Oh.  Yeah. Right.  I can’t tell you until Tianda does.”

 

Gus raised an eyebrow, “Did Tianda have her baby?”

 

Mac’s eyes went wide, “How did you guess?!” she demanded.  

 

Fred did a face palm and said, “You are a menace Mackenzie Jane Underhill.”

 

Gus tried not to laugh.

 

Mac looked up at him.  “We are making pizza for dinner.  What at you having?”

 

Gus held up the bag of apples.

 

Fred frowned.  “You are welcome to join us for homemade pizza if you like.”

 

Gus smiled down at her.  “I’d like that.”

 

\----

 

By the third floor, Gus noticed that Fred was slowing down a little.  “We gotta get you a place closer to the ground, Doc.”

 

Fred actually stopped for a moment at that.  “I have applications in at every single building with in hobbling distance of the hospital.”

 

“If you let me drive you, you would have more places to apply.”

 

Fred slowly started up the stairs again.  “I know Dorghu wants you to chauffeur me. But I’m sure you have better things to do than be at my beck and call.”

 

“I really don’t,” Gus muttered under his breath, then wondered if Mac could have heard that.

 

Fred hesitated again.  “I just realized, I didn’t ask about dietary requirements.  We have ham and cheese and mushrooms… and I think there might be some leftover bacon.  But I don’t have anything kosher.”

 

Gus gasped.  “ _My god_ , woman!  How can you _possibly_ have _leftover_ bacon?”

 

Fred panicked for a moment before what he said actually sank in.  “Um… because there are only two of us and a half pound of bacon each is a bit much.”

 

Gus looked down at Mac, “It’s _you_ , isn’t it?  You aren’t eating all your bacon!”

 

Mac giggled and shook her head, her brown curls bobbing.  Gus tried to picture her with lilac coloured hair and just couldn’t do it.

 

“I’ll take that as no special dietary issues then.”

 

“Not a one.  You cook, I’ll eat.”

 

“You have to help,” Mac explained.  “It’s make your own pizza.”

 

“I can handle that.  In fact, if you have flour, butter, sugar and oatmeal, I will make dessert.”

 

Fred nodded, “I think I can manage that.”

 

Gus considered carefully before saying.  “You have too many stairs, Doc. Tomorrow night, dinner at my place, OK?”

 

Fred nodded.  “I can handle that.”

 

Gus felt a little flutter in his chest at that.

 

\----

 

Fred was a little surprised.  Gus plunked her down on the couch and pretty much took over making dinner. He “helped” Mac make pizzas by, basically making the pizzas and sending Mac to wash her hands every time she licked sauce off her fingers.  Then, while the pizza was baking, he threw together an apple crumble that certainly smelled good.

 

Fred sat and rubbed her thigh muscle that was one big cramp by now.  Mac brought her the heating pad without even being asked.

 

Gus noticed.  “Anything I can do to help?”

 

Fred shrugged,  “You are already doing it.  I promise that when I invited you over I wasn’t planning on having you cook.”

 

“This wasn’t exactly a difficult meal.  You did all the planning. That’s the worst part.”  Gus was watching her when he added, “Can you tell me what brought this on?”

 

“It’s gonna rain tomorrow.” Mac said solemnly.

 

Fred nodded, “It always acts up when there is a barometric pressure change.  The bone and the implant do respond the same way and they either pull apart a little or push together a little.  Either one feels like someone is trying to rip out my hardware.”

 

Gus winced.  “Not fun.”

 

“Not really, no,” Fred agreed.

 

She made it through supper, then texted in sick for tomorrow.  She was trying to figure out how to get rid of Gus so she could take some meds and crash for the night.

 

“Doc?”

 

Fred looked up.

 

“I don’t think you should be alone right now.  You are so pale you are turning green. However amazingly helpful Mac is, there should be an adult here in case you pass out.”

 

“I’ll be fine.  I can manage.”

 

“I know you can.  But please let me help.”

 

Fred rubbed her leg and nodded.

 

Gus turned to Mac, “OK princess, you go put on your jammies and then I’ll read you a story before you brush your teeth, ok?”

 

Mac frowned.  “I don’t think I like you anymore.”

 

“I can live with that.  Now go get your pyjamas on, please.”

 

Mac stomped off in a huff.

 

Gus turned to Fred.  “Where do you keep…. Whatever you take for that?  I’m betting you have something stronger than Advil around here.”

 

“Yeah, I have two Advil.  I don’t keep narcotics on the premises, ever.   The Advil is in the medicine cupboard in the bathroom.”

 

Gus nodded slowly, “I’ll get you two Advil and a glass of water then.”  When he handed them to her, he asked, “Is that going to do it? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?”

 

“I’ll be fine.  This will take the edge off.  Besides, the good doctor doesn’t work nights.”

 

Gus grinned, “Yeah, she does.  She makes food for her friends and takes care of her kid.”

 

Gus read Mac a book about an anthropomorphized crayon then watched her brush her teeth, kiss her mum and tuck into bed.

 

At which point he came back into the living room to stare at Fred.  

 

She stared back at him.

 

“The easiest way for this to work, is just for me to carry you to bed and sleep on the couch.”

 

Fred pushed herself upright.  “If you will pass me the cane next to the door.  I need to wash up before bed.”

 

She had to fight not to scream when Gus scooped her up bridal style and carried her to the bathroom.  He set her on her feet in front of the sink and said, “You wash, I’ll bring the cane.”

 

Leaning on the counter, Fred did just that.  Gus stood in the corner and watched her brush her teeth and wash her face.  She pointedly closed the door in his face so she could pee in peace. He was standing a little way away, holding her cane when she opened the door.   She held out her hand. “Hand it over,” she said, in her best no nonsense tone of voice.

 

Gus held it out to her, “Doc, I don’t know if this is a pride thing, or just pure stubbornness, but if you let me carry you, you won’t be putting any weight on that leg.  A cane is not crutches.”

 

Fred closed her eyes for a moment.  He was right, gods dammit. But she wasn’t used to having people help her.  Or touch her for that matter. She touched her patients, her kid but that was the same as having a grade A prime alpha male orc offering to carry her to bed.

 

“Doc, are you OK?”

 

“Just give me a moment.”  But that was a big part of why she had really picked this neighbourhood.  Walking distances and lack of elves was nice, but lots of places had that.  People published statistics, but rarely actually looked at them. This ten block by ten block neighbourhood has six small lay lines running through it.  All underground, all too small to bother really mapping. But all six together were almost as strong as the big fat one running through Greenwich.

 

Elves owned London and Greenwich and that was why GMT was the standard.

 

The other thing that no one seemed to be paying attention to was the ex-convict population.  Orc were tracked by size when they were incarcerated. They were tracked by parole officers when they were released.  No one was cross checking the data to see that there were more alpha male orcs in this neighbourhood than anywhere else in the western world.  And no one was tracking for alpha female orcs AT ALL.

 

Fred had come here to be around people who could protect her and her daughter if necessary.  Then she build community ties so that hopefully they would.

 

Now Gus was offering to take care of her.

 

That was the whole point, right?

 

Fred swallowed and opened her eyes.  “You’re right, it is bull headed stubborn pride.  I’m not actually all that good at asking for help.  Um… if you don’t mind helping me to my room -” she didn’t even get to finish before he scooped her up again and carried her carefully to her bed.  “If you give me a moment to change, I’ll sleep on the couch. It is way too small for you.”

 

“Not a chance.  I’m not letting you sleep on a couch while you are hurting, Doc.  My momma would skin me alive if she ever found out.”

 

“It is too short for you.”

 

“Won’t be the first time I’ve slept on a floor.  Won’t be the last time, neither.”

 

Fred considered this.  She had a double. It was fine for her, but Gus would take up most of it.  “I snore and my leg twitches in my sleep.”

 

“O...kay….”

 

“I sleep on the right.”  She could see the moment where that sunk in.  He actually blushed.

 

“Um.. are you sure?”

 

Fred sighed, “Honestly, no.  It’s been a long time since I shared a bed.  But as long as you understand that I’m not offering to buff your cucumber… “

 

"What?  Oh! No!  Yeah! Um… fine..” Then he snorted.  “Is buff your cucumber an official medical term, Doc?”

 

Fred grinned, “Well, I did learn it in a hospital.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions? Comments? Concerns? I live for the comments!


	11. The Appartment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to the Bright Community for letting me borrow their characters!
> 
> Bee and Grey belong to Dust Bun. Frank and Rrollo belong to Bonnietakesnosh!t

Fred lay there with her back pressed to Gus’s and realized she should have just had Mac join her in her bed.  Then Gus could have slept in Mac’s room.

 

The thing was…. She didn’t really want that.  Gus was warm. Fred felt safe with him. It had been a while since she felt that.  Still.

 

“I feel like I am taking advantage of you, Gus.”

 

Gus snorted a laugh, “And why is that, Doc?”

 

“I brought you home, had you make me supper and dessert and do the dishes, plus child wrangling. And now you are lying here in a too small bed when I am sure you would be a lot more comfortable at home.”

 

“More lonely, though.”

 

That hit home for Fred.  “Yeah.” She sighed, “I love Mac more than anything, but it isn’t the same as having an adult around.”

 

Gus nodded, then realized she couldn’t see him. “Yeah.  I have occasionally thought about getting a roommate, but I’m too old to put up with another guys dirty socks on the floor.”

 

“Someone leaving their dishes all over,” Fred agreed.

 

“Eating the last mango,” Gus replied.

 

Fred chuckled softly, “Mac already has eating the last anything covered.”

 

“Well,” Gus conceded, “she’s a growing girl, that’s different.”

 

Fred’s leg took that moment twitch and she bit back a cry.  She did, however, indulge in a curse and gave her hip an absent minded rub.

 

“If you roll over, I could rub tha-” Gus stopped abruptly as he realized he was about to offer to rub her thigh.

 

Fred raised an eyebrow.

 

Gus coughed.  “I mean that in a platonic, no cucumber kind of way.”

 

Fred laughed.  She shook her and gave him a look.  “You, sir, are going to be a problem for me.”

 

Gus swallowed at the word ‘sir.’  “Why do you say that?” he asked.

 

Fred shrugged, “You have the super sweet thing down pat.  There aren’t a lot of nice guys out there.”

 

“Most people wouldn’t look at me and see ‘nice guy’.”

 

Fred replied.  “Most people don’t really pay attention.”

 

Gus considered this, “Fred?  You know I pay attention, right?”

 

Fred sighed, “Yeah.  It’s the other reason you are going to be a problem for me.”

 

“So… Mac’s dad.”

 

“Uh-huh?”

 

“Nevermind.”

 

“You might as well ask and get it over with.”

 

“Nah.  It’s isn’t going to change anything.”

 

Now Fred slowly and painfully rolled over to look at him.  “What?”

 

“Is Underhill his last name?”

 

Fred went very quiet for a long moment.  Long enough that Gus started to get uncomfortable and embarrassed that he had asked.  “Underhill is my maiden name. I changed it back after he stabbed me. But if you are asking if he is an elf, the answer is no.  He has an elven ancestor somewhere in his family tree, but he, Mac and I are all registered as human.”

 

There was a long few minutes of silence and Fred had gone very still.  Gus was pretty sure she wasn’t asleep, though, he could smell how much her leg hurt.  “If you moved in across the hall from me, I could help out when you are hurting like this.”

 

Fred shook her head.  “Mikhail doesn’t want to rent to me.  That’s the thing with being an Underhill.  The name opens a lot of doors, but it closed some too.”

 

“I’ll talk to him.”

 

“You don’t have to do that.”

 

Gus shrugged, “If I don’t Dorghu will.  I’m going to be walking around smelling like to pain for a while.  Dorghu isn’t going to be pleased that the Good Doctor is laid up with a bum leg and no help.”

 

“I am glad you brought me home an stuck around.  I’m sorry if my stinky ass is going to get you in trouble.”

 

Gus barked a laugh, “Careful there Doc.  I am about to spoon your stinky ass and rub your thigh.”

 

There was no reply for a very long time, then “I wouldn’t totally object.”

 

They fit better on the bed that way and Fred was surprised to find exactly how good it felt to have Gus rubbing her scar.  It still hurt, but it hurt like a firm massage, rather than a sharp stabbing pain. To Fred surprise, she actually managed to nod off.

 

\----

 

About the time Fred started making gentle sleeping noises, Gus wiggled out of bed and stole her keys.  He called Bee to come and sit with her, rationalizing that the local vet and back alley surgeon would be the best one to handle a patient with chronic pain.  Plus Bee could mother anyone. Hell, putting her and Dorghu in a room was a riot.

 

Sometimes literally.

 

He made a couple of calls and met Frank, Rollo and Grey at Dorghu’s place.

 

The Big Man seemed a bit distracted.

 

“Anyone know why Mikhail won’t rent to the Doc?” Gus asked.

 

“You got me out of bed for  _ that _ ?” Dorghu demanded.

 

Frank didn’t say anything, but he glared at Gus in a way that let it be known that he had better things to do too.

 

Grey cracked his knuckles.

 

Rollo blurted out, “I thought she had a place.  Why won’t Mikhail rent to the Doc?”

 

Gus shook his head.  “I met her after work today.  She was fine. Twenty minutes later the wind shifted and suddenly she could hardly walk.  Dumping pain stink in the air like the fragrance counter at Macy’s.”

 

Dorghu frowned, “What did you do in those twenty minutes?”

 

“Nothing!  She said that when the weather changes it’s like someone is trying to rip out the metal holding her leg together.  She needs a place with fewer stairs. The place across for me is open. I wanna know Mikhail won’t rent to her.” Gus paused for breath.  “I am asking if any of you have heard anything.”

 

Dorghu tensed.  “No, I haven’t. But if he has a beef with the doc, I should have.” He thought about this some more.  “Time to pay that little troll a visit.”

 

\----

 

Mikhail frowned when Dorghu strolled in with his heavies in the middle of the night.  “I’m not looking for trouble,” he announced. “My community association fees are all paid up.”

 

Dorghu leaned on the counter, “We aren’t here for that.”

 

“Really.  Because you gentlemen don’t look like you are out to pick up a head of lettuce and a six pack of Orc-aid.”

 

Grey watched the one customer flee.  Then he locked the door.

 

Mikhail swallowed.  “So it’s like that, is it,” he said flatly.

 

“That depends on how helpful you are.” Dorghu replied.  He lit a cigarette for the effect and blew a smoke ring.  “I want information about the Doc.”

 

“So why come to me?”

 

“I hear you have a problem with her.  That suggests you know something. I like to know things too.  I think you should share.”

 

Mikhail leaned away from the counter and crossed his arms.  “I have no problem with Fred. She is a good doctor. She is a good customer.  Very polite. Very discrete. No problem.”

 

“So, why are you leaving that apartment empty instead of letting her have it and collecting some rent?”

 

Mikhail chewed the inside of his cheek as he thought about that.  “I have no problem with the doctor. But sooner or later someone is going to come for the kid and I don’t want that happening in my building.”

 

Gus was suddenly right at Dorghu’s elbow.  He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. By the orc had Fred’s smell on him, so he had the right to hear this.  “Who is coming for Mac?” he demanded.

 

“The ex-husband?” Dorghu suggested.

 

Mikhail chuckled.  “Did you even take five minutes to Google her name before you came to see me?”

 

Dorghu growled, “Of course.  I read the news article and saw the pictures.  He fucked her up pretty good.”

 

“Is that as far as you went?  The kid had high ranking elven grandfathers on BOTH sides of her family tree.  The Underhills and the Greenwoods.”

 

Everyone was very attentive at that.

 

Frank growled, “The kid’s an elf?”   
  
Mikhail raised his hands placatingly, “Less than Bee! But if you hang out on the dark web and believe the stories.  Well, they say some of the elven families have been using humans as breeding stock for generation. Selectively breeding for specific genetic traits.  Brights, among others. If you believe that and if you look at Mac’s family tree, it is easy to see where she represents 150 years of careful eugenics.  Except now Fred has taken her and severed all ties with her family. Some one, some day is going to come looking for them. And unless you and your… friends are prepared to take personal responsibility for them, I am not having a pack of elves come to abduct a child from my building.”

 

Dorgh nodded.  “I will have to think about that.” As he turned to leave he looked hard at Gus.  The gang was all pairing up and too many of them were choosing tiny humans. Dorghu couldn’t even really complain since he had.  But he did wonder about that. Bee could drone on about hybrid vigor and all that. But when Dorghu looked at the woman who effectively owned his ass… well, he couldn’t see how someone so small could birth and raise a healthy orc kid.

 

Grey unlocked the door and they headed out to their trucks.

 

He wondered what the hell elves would be breeding for.

 

Cross breeding orcs and humans would slightly increase a orc’s chance of having a Bright.

 

Surely an elf/human cross would have a lower chance from the elf’s point of view.

 

And suddenly Dorghu had to be really careful.  If he wasn’t willing to step up and commit his guys to guarding the Doc, it was easy to see that Gus would.  The last thing Dorghu wanted was a bunch of ex-Navy Seals who’s loyalty wasn’t to him turning up in his territory.

 

He turned to Gus.  “I need you to marry Fred.”

 

He suddenly had everyone’s full attention.

 

“What?” Rrollo demanded.  “You can’t just-”

 

Frank smacked he up the backside of his head.

 

Gus made eye contact with Dorghu.  

 

Everyone tensed for a fight.

 

Then he nodded and looked away.  “Fine. But you get to explain it to my Mama.”

 

Grey coughed.  Frank looked impassive.  Rrollo grinned like an idiot.

 

 


	12. The Arrangement

Fred woke up alone in bed.  She was briefly disappointed, but reasoned that the bed really wasn’t big enough for the both of them. She yawned and stretched, then winced and swore softly under her breath.  The frustrating this was she could easily make it better. But if she did that, she might as well take out a Superbowl ad screaming COME AT ME, BRO!

 

And it wouldn’t just be the elders, it would also be the feds.

 

She just didn’t have time for that.

 

Speaking of time, Fred thought, Mac needed to get ready for school and ….  Either someone is using the toaster or I’m about to have a seizure.

 

Fred scrambled out of bed and fell to the floor with an outburst of swearing in Orge.  She managed to get herself upright and get her cane and hobble like a little old granny out to the kitchen.

 

Her kitchen that was full of Gus, Dorghu, Bee and a squad of goons.  Mac was sitting in front of the TV eating cereal.

 

Fred felt a sudden wave of absolute rage swell inside of her and she turn on Gus, “What The Fuck do you think you are doing?”  Gus stared at her in shock. This was the first time he remembered her swearing in front of the kid. Mac started to shovel her cereal in faster.  The orcs looked suddenly very nervous. Fred suddenly turned her attention on Bee. “Really, Bee? I respected you. How could you let this happen?  You should know better.”

 

Bee blinked.

 

Mac slurped up the last of her milk and brought her bowl to the sink.  “Sorry Mummum.”

 

“Oh, you better be!  How EXACTLY are you going to make it through a morning of school with two servings of coco-puffs in your belly?  I’ll just send the apology card to your teacher straight off, shall I?”

 

Mac grinned and carefully hugged her mother before sprinting off to get dressed.

 

Fred shook her head and continued her trek to the table.  She sat across from Dorghu and said, “I’m pretty sure I said no house calls, but since I’m not going to work today, what can I help you with?”

 

“You’re going to marry Gus.  It’ll be a push, but we can have everything arranged for Saturday afternoon.”   
  


Fred gaped at him.  Part of her was glad she wasn’t drinking coffee yet.  The temptation to throw it in his face would be too great.  She suddenly had a ton of questions, like why was this coming from Dorghu and not Gus? Why the rush? What kind of idiot thought he could plan a wedding in a day and a half?  What she said was, “Oh, really.”

 

“Yeah.”  Dorghu leaned forward.  “We know about Mac.”

 

Fred panicked.  She couldn’t literally run right now.  She had to get them to leave. Calling a cab wouldn’t be too suspicious and her bug out bags were packed and in the closet.  She just had to get them to leave so she could-

 

Gus was suddenly kneeling next to her chair.  She jumped when he touched her back and his hand was instantly gone.  “It’s OK. We are talking about a marriage of convenience here. You get a name change and American citizenship and the clan steps up to protect you and Mac.”

 

Fred closed her eyes and tried to process that.  “It doesn’t work that way. The name change would involve changing my name on my medical licence.  Mac doesn’t get a name change without a lot of paperwork. All of that draws attention.”

 

Dorghu kept watching her.  She looked serene but she smelled like fear and anxiety and enough pain that it was putting everyone on edge.  He decided to start with that. “You marry Gus, you get his healing. Your leg won’t hurt as much.”

 

That was the wrong thing to say.  It only made her more tense. “At that point, you aren’t talking about a marriage of convenience.  What’s in it for you? Because I’m not entirely thrilled at the idea of being married again. That didn’t work out so well for me last time.  I also don’t want to be beholden to you, Dorhgu.”

 

Dorghu’s eyes narrowed. “You think I was thrilled about the doctor they finally found to treat the orc community in the neighbourhood being named Underhill?  We can’t always get what we want. But if you are going to be our doc and be part of the community, then we are going to be responsible for you. Easiest way to do that is to marry in.  You don’t like Gus? Fine. I’ll find you someone else. But the church is booked for tomorrow at sundown.” Dorghu crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in the chair.

 

Fred copied his gesture, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, bloody defiant single mindedness radiating from every pore.

 

Bee looked between the two of them, then coughed.

 

Mac bounced out of the bathroom just then.  “Mum! I’m ready for school!”

 

Fred turned to look at her.  They had practiced this. Time to see if it would work.  “Awesome, baby girl! I’ll call us a cab then get my bag out of the closet so we can go.”

 

Mac picked up on the key words and looked at the orcs in their kitchen and nodded solemnly.  

 

Gus’s snooping earlier meant that he knew exactly which bag in the closet Fred was talking about.  He cleared his throat. “Dorghu? Would you let me have a word with … my fiance?” Dorghu was still glaring at Fred.  Gus sighed, “The sun is up and you have people to invite to the wedding, right?”

 

Now Dorghu looked at him and snorted, “I am not looking forward to that.”

 

Gus gave him a wry grin, “Why do you think I’m making you do it?”  The orcs filed out and Gus pulled Fred’s cell phone out of her hand.

 

“Hey!”

 

“You dyed your hair the very next day, but on movie night, Mac’s roots were showing.”

 

Fred started breathing faster, her eyes too wide as she looked at him.

 

“Easy, there Doc.  I just want you to know that I know what I’m getting into here.  I am a soldier. Marry me and let me do my fucking job.”

 

“And what job is that?”

 

“Defending my home.”  He looked down at the two of them and sighed.  “Damn if I know how, but somewhere along the way you both became a part of that.”  Fred said nothing, she just looked away. “Just think of it as an extended period of hiding from the matchmakers.”

 

“I don’t want to get married.”

 

Gus snorted, “In general or to me specifically?”

 

“At all.” Fred said.  “I understand that I sound like a pouty kid here.  But I am not happy about being pressured into an arranged marriage by the local gang of thugs.”

 

Gus shrugged, “Maybe.  But it makes an excellent excuse to get it annulled later.”  He kept watching her. Her shoulders had sagged as he said that.  “I have a three bedroom apartment. I’ll clean out the guest room and my office.  That way you and Mac can each have your own room. I’m not going to push you for anythi---”  he stopped talking. He was going to say ‘anything you don’t want to do’ but that wasn’t true.  He was going to be part of a marriage she wanted no part of. He sighed. She couldn’t even look at him right now.  Everything was further complicated by Mac watching them intently. “I’ll keep my cucumber out of your salad,” he finished lamely.

 

Mac was watching her mother panic.  She started to cry. “I don’t understand!” she wailed.

 

Fred awkwardly knelt down and hugged her.  “It’s OK. I’m… We’re getting married?”

 

Mac still looked confused.  “You and me?”

 

Fred chuckled softly.  “Me and Gus.”

 

Mac stared at her in disbelief, “You’re getting  _ married _ ?!”

 

“I… I don’t know, sweetie.  I haven’t said yes yet.”

 

“But you’re gonna, right?  And I can be the flower girl and have a purple dress with sparkles. And when you throw the bouquet you will throw it at me, right?”  Mac was now bouncing excitedly around the room.

 

Fred sighed, “And this is why you can’t have cocopuffs on a school day.”

 

Mac stopped then spun around and announced, “Teacher is going to be SO jealous!  Her boyfriend hasn’t asked her yet!”

 

Fred tried to push herself to her feet.  It took a couple of tries, then she still had to hobble over to the table to sit down again.  She rubbed her thigh and looked up at Gus, “You should go. Mac and I need to talk.”

 

Gus shook his head.  “If I leave, you’ll run.”

 

“Maybe.  But are you going to tell me that I can’t?”

 

Gus crossed his arms.  “No. But you aren’t normally that stupid.”  Mac came over and punched him in the thigh. “What?”

 

“Don’t be mean to Mum mum!”

 

Gus looked down at the tiny defender.  “I’m not trying to be mean. I just don’t want you to run away and leave me behind.”

 

“Oh.”  Mac thought for a moment.  “I don’t want that either.”

 

Fred put her elbows on the table and leaned forward over her hands.  Her shoulders shook for a moment. Then she scrubbed her face. When she looked up she still had one hand over her mouth.  She stared at nothing for a while. 

 

“I want a prenup and a purple sparkle dress for Mac.  And a human style wedding.” She thought some more and snorted a cynical laugh, “And Dorghu can give me away.”

 

\----

 

It was afternoon by the time Fred managed to lose all the Fogtooth members who were watching her.  When she got into the cab, Gerard was driving. Fred sighed. “To the airport please.”

 

Gerard peeked at her in the rearview mirror.  “Ah! Doctor! This is a poor time to be crossing town.  You will be in my cab for hours.”

 

“It’s OK, Gerard.”

 

“I don’t want you to miss your flight.  Going someplace nice?”

 

“It’s complicated.”

 

Gerard chuckled, “Everything is complicated when you are young.  And you have lots of time to tell your story today.”

 

“I just ….  Dorghu is planning my wedding, and I thought it might be a good idea not to be there for that.”

 

“Ah!  Imani will be very disappointed.  You never did come for a meal!” Gerard was thoughtful for a moment.  “Why is Dorghu planning your wedding? I heard he was dating someone, but I did not hear that it was you.  Ah, well. Go one then, show me the ring.”

 

“I don’t have one.”  Fred sighed softly.   
  


Mac wasn’t saying anything.  She was staring out the window in sullen silence. She has said her bit, screamed her bit when Fred told her they were still leaving.

 

“Perhaps once you get back?” Gerard suggested.

 

Fred shook her head.  “I won’t get a ring. I didn’t even get a proposal.  Dorghu broke into my apartment this morning and announce that I was going to marry one of his gang members and he didn’t much care which one.”

  
  


The drove in shocked silence for a long moment.  “And why would he do that?”

 

“He wants me married into the clan.  Says it will keep me safe. It’s a long - it’s complicated and personal.”

 

“Hmm.  Imani will give him a right good smack when she hears of this!.”

 

“Gerard?  Can you just not tell her?  I don’t really want to advertise this.”

 

Gerard chuckled.  “You think you can keep an orc wedding a secret?”

 

“It wasn’t going to be a secret.  I just need a little bit of a head start before he knows I’m gone.”

 

Gerard swerved and pulled over.  “You are in my cab running away from Dorghu?  Are you trying to get me killed?”

 

“I’m just taking a cab ride!” Fred protested.

 

“After Dorghu told you to do something?  Are you crazy woman?!”

 

Mac cleared her throat, “That’s not nice!  Mental illness is no laughing mather!”

 

“Matter.” Fred clarified.  “It’s OK, Mac. Gerard just meant silly.”

 

Gerard turned in his seat to look at them over his shoulder.  “Look, the Fogtooth boys aren’t the angel’s choir, but they don’t run hard drugs, they don’t traffic people, and they treat mothers and children like treasures.  What ever Dorghu has planned, I can guarantee that it is not going to put you or the kid at risk. If he harms you, the whole community of orcs will turn on him. There is zero tolerance for spousal or child abuse.  Hell, his enforcer practically worships kids. If this is what needs to happen for you and the kid to be safe, then Dorghu will make it happen.”

 

Fred just stared at him.

 

Mac tugged on her sleeve, “Mummum?  I like my friends. I like my school.  Brayden and Briella and Tianda and Kate and Marcus and my teacher and just everyone.  I wanna stay. We never stay anywhere. It’s no fair.”

 

“This isn’t a vote, Mackenzie.”  Fred turned to Gerard. “This sure feels like human trafficking to me.  The guy Dorghu picked for me didn’t even ask me. He’s just following orders, like a good soldier.”

 

Gerard shrugged. “That’s what soldiers do.  And what mothers do is protect their children.  Will Mac be safer if you stay or if you go?”

 

Fred gritted her teeth.  “If you could take us home please Gerard.”

 

Gerard grinning at her, stark white teeth flashing against some of the darkest skin Fred had ever seen.  “Don’t you worry Doctor Fred. Imani likes you. She will be sad that you never got to meet our son, but she will not hesitated to beat Dorghu with her slipper if she doesn’t like how this goes.”

 

The mental picture of that made Fred snort.

  
  



	13. The Mother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Um... yeah. Sorry Bonnie for attacking your characters with condiments.

Dorghu surveyed his troops.  It wasn’t nearly enough and - “For Jirak’s sake!  Frank! Put your damn phone away! I don’t want you making this worse just because your little brain is up your kitten’s ass!”

  


Gus snickered.

  


“What?!” Dorghu demanded.

  


“There aint no way this isn’t going bad for you.” Gus chuckled.  Then he remembered who he was talking to and added, “Boss.”

  


Dorghu idly traced the scars across his face.  “Fuck. Let’s get this over with.” He knocked on the door.

  


\----

  


Gus was just standing in the corner enjoying the show.  So far his mother had thrown six pieces of Tupperware and a frying pan at Dorghu (everyone a direct hit, he was pleased to notice) and now she was randomly beating gang members with her shoe.

  


“Why are you whoring my son?” she demanded. 

  


Wack! Wack! went the slipper.”

  


“Why are  _ you _ whoring MY SON!!” Wack!

  


“Imani!  Wait! Just listen!”

  


The elderly female orc did hesitate for a moment.  Dorghu had completely lost track of all the excellent arguments he had prepared.  The moment of silence was equally unnerving. “Uh…. Look! She mixed and so is he and you will have instant grandbabies-”

  


Imani shrieked at that, and attacked with renewed vigor.  “You racist, RACIST ASSHOLE!” She screamed. Then she looked at Gus and said, “Just ‘cause Mama says those words, doesn’t mean you get to, baby.”

  


Rrollo snickered.  Imani grabbed the salt shaker off the table and nailed him in the face with it.  He went down screaming as the cap flew off and the salt got into his eyes. Frank who had been frozen in white faced terror up to then, grabbed his friend and fled.

  


Imani watched them go in silence.  “Poor lamb,” she said. Then she saw Dorghu trying to inch toward the door.  She screamed again and hurled the pepper shaker at him. 

  


“Get OUT!”

  


Dorghu left in a flood of sneezes.

  


Then she turned to her son and pulled out the cruelest weapon in her arsonal.  “Why?” she said simply and started to cry.

  


Gus hugged his Mama and kissed the top of her head.  “It will be OK, mama. I only agreed because I love her.”

  


Imani sighed.  “When did this happen?  Why didn’t you tell me? I had a nice girl all lined up to meet  you! She is going to be so disappointed!”

  


Gus chuckled softly, “Mama, if she is a nice girl, she will find a nice boy without nightmares hunting him at night.”

  


Imani narrowed her eyes, “What about this girl you’re marrying?”

  


“She is sweet and kind and tough as nails.  We will be ok.”

  


“So why’d Dorghu tell me it was an arranged marriage?”

  


Gus sighed.  “That’s where it gets complicated.  I love her, Mama, I do… but”

  


“Argh!  There shouldn’t be any buts in love!”  Gus’s brain stalled for a moment, then he took a slipper to the ear, “Get your mind out of the gutter!  You know what I mean!” Imani finished.

  


“She doesn’t want to get married.  I don’t know that she loves me like that.  But she needs this to be safe. And I can take care of her Mama.  It worked out for you and Pop, right?”

  


“The world was different then.  We were in a war.”

  


Gus sighed and rubbed her back, “Mama you watch the news.  You know how many of us are being hunted down and killed by the cops.  We are still at war.”

  


\----

  


Fred didn’t have Gerard take her home.  Instead she kept him as her chauffer all afternoon.  She made a quick call to her lawyers. Then she had him take her to buy a purple sparkle dress for Mac.  That wasn’t as straightforward as it should have been. Four stores later, Mac looked like a little girl in a purple sparkle dress.  As compared to the first two where she looked like a drag queen or the third where she looked like a pint sized call girl.

  


Gerard watched as Mac bounced excitedly into the car, babbling about her new dress.

  


“Ok! Ok!  Easy there little one.  So, now we go get one for your Mama, yes?”

  


“No.” Fred said firmly.

  


Gerard looked at her in the rear view mirror.  “But you are getting married tomorrow. You need a new dress.”

  


Fred closed her eyes.  She wanted to explain that this wasn’t a real wedding and it didn’t really count and she wasn’t even sure she wanted to be doing this.  But now Mac was all excited and begging, “Please Mummum! You need a princess dress too!” And Fred had no idea how to explain a marriage of convenience to a five year old.

  


She grudgingly agreed and tried very hard not to do it with bad grace.

  


The next dress store they stopped at Gerard came in.  The three off them threw the saleswoman for a loop. She kept trying to get Fred to try on fluffy, sexy and expensive.  Fred kept trying to shop in the mother of the bride section. Gerard kept trying not to laugh.

  


Eventually, he caught Fred’s arm and stuffed her into a change room with this a cream coloured dress.  Fred grunted and cursed and had to readjust her boobs to make it fit. It was supposed to be mid calf but was closer to ankle length on her.  The empire waist sitting about where it was supposed to be. There was fussy looking beading where the spagetti straps connected to the neckline the dipped a little lower than she would have picked out.  It hugged her curves to her hips, then fell in an attractive a-line. The back was almost backless.

  


“How is it?” the sales woman called.

  


“I feel ridiculous!” Fred replied.  She took off the dress and took off her bra straps then put the dress back on.  That was a little better.

  


“Can we see, cher?” Gerard asked.

  


Fred considered this, “Yes.  I’m pretty sure you can see everything in this dress.”

  


“Mummum, come out!” Mac insisted.

  


Fred stepped awkwardly out of the change room.

  


They all stared at her.  She blushed. “Yeah. I know.  This is why I never go shopping for dresses.  They just don’t fit right and they don’t go with my chucks and-”

  


Gerard cleared his throat.  “I will buy you that dress and take you shopping for fancy shoes.”

  


Mac came up and took her hand, “You look beautiful!” she whispered.

  


Fred snorted.  A five year old who thought bunny slippers and Elsa jammies were the height of fashion was not the best person to take dress shopping.  But…. the look on Gerard’s face suggested it might be worth spending some money on.

  


“I’ll buy it. And the shoes.  But I am not going to even try on heels.”  

  


In the end, she found a pair of flat sandals with ballet slipper like laces to go around her ankles.  On one hand, she felt ridiculous. On the other, working in medicine had cured her of the ability to feel shame years ago.

  


She decided that if they were going to do this, putting a little effort in would likely be helpful in INS came around.

  


When they got home that night, Gerard helped her carry her things up to her apartment.  

  


Upon opening the door, she found that almost everything she owned had been packed.

  


She stood in the doorway for a moment, before offering Gerard a huge tip.  He tried to refuse. She insisted. “You could have gotten a lot of fares if you weren’t stuck with us all day.”

  


Gerard frowned.  “I will take it and buy you a wedding present, how about that?”

  


She just shook her head.  “It isn’t that kind of a wedding.”

  


Gerard shook his head.  This was not how the bride was supposed to look the night before the wedding.  Where she should be excited, she seemed just resigned. “It will be OK.” He assured her.  “You just have to trust that these things happen for a reason.”

  


Fred shook her head.  “He doesn’t want this either. No one asked either of us.  He didn’t ask me. We are both just following orders from Dorghu.  There is no way to explain how much that worries me.”

  


Gerard frowned.  “If it goes bad, I promise my family will take you in and protect you.  No one is getting past my son.”

  


Fred nodded.  “Will you an Imani be there?  It would be nice to see some friendly faces in the crowd.”

  


Gerard beamed at her.  “We would be honnored!”

  


“Thank you for all your help today.”

  


Gerard pulled her into a tight hug.  “You are very VERY welcome, Doctor Underhill.”

  


\----

  


It was after dark by the time Gerard got home.  His wife was very upset.

  


She turned on him immediately and said, “You will never guess what your idiot son has gone and done!”

  


Even before she finished explaining, Gerard laughed and laughed.

  


It did not make Imani feel any better.  And he flat out refused to explain, saying only that he was not going to spoil the surprise.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments make the writing happen.


	14. The Event

Tianda and the kids turned up the next day. Officially, they were there to entertain Mac while Tianda did Fred’s hair and makeup.  Fred still wasn’t too impressed by any of this, but had settled into a generalized level of slight grumpiness that Tianda was mostly amused by.

 

Mostly.

 

Right up until she said, “And you can borrow my veil from my wedding.  Your dress is new and Gus is blue, so that we just have to find you something old and you will be all set.”

 

“I feel too old for this, does that count?” Fred grumbled.

 

Tianda gave her a wry looked then teased, “That’s not being old.  That’s just being pissy and you need to stop it now because I have been watching and you have made a lot of excuses and grumbled a bunch but you haven’t ever said you don’t like Gus.”

 

Fred blinked and looked at her friend.  Then at the tiny person in the Baby Bjorn Tianda was wearing.  “I do like Gus. I just didn’t enjoy being married last time. I don’t want to do that again.  I also don’t think it’s fair for Dorghu to dump a cripple and her brat on the poor man.”

 

Tianda gaped at her.  Then she laughed so hard, tears ran down her face.  “You really think Dorghu could force Gus to do this if he really objected?  Not a chance. The two of you are maybe being rushed into this, but…. C’mon doc, we all know this is where it was heading.”

 

Fred stubbornly shook her head.  “I was thinking it was headed towards a ‘friends with benefits’ situation, not marriage.”

 

Tianda shrugged and went back to brushing Fred’s hair.  “In the very best marriages, that’s what you have, really.  But the benefits also include things like joint filing your taxes and having someone to help with the dishes.” 

 

They were both silent for a moment.  Then Fred asked, “Is that how your marriage is?”

 

Tianda shrugged, “It was until he went and got himself arrested.”  Then she pulled out her phone and started texting. “I’m putting Gus in charge of bringing something old to the wedding.”

 

\----

 

Gus got Tianda’s text.  He thought about it for a moment then replied, :I can do that how is she:

 

:in a bitchy mood but its getting better still smells hurt:

 

:???:

 

:on it:

 

Gus sighed.  His mom was yelling and crying again.  She was once again complaining that he wouldn’t even meet the nice girl she found for him, but Dorghu snaps his fingers and her son, HER ONLY SON was running off to marry some hussy!

 

His dad was watching the whole thing in amusement.  Right up to that last line. Then he snapped, “Don’t speak of your future daughter in law that way!”  He laughed as Imani was shocked into silence. 

 

Gus thought he would be less amused if he knew Gus had signed a prenup after barely reading the thing.

 

In the meantime, Gerard had gotten out his mother’s, Gus’s grandmother’s wedding rings and handed them over with the sage advice of, “You are playing for keeps now. Don’t mess this up.”

 

——-

 

Now Fred was at the orc temple hiding in one of the back rooms.  They had gotten Mac a bouquet of lilacs for her role as flower girl.  Someone knocked on the door. They waited. The person knocked again. 

 

“Come in?” Fred suggested.

 

And older guy, an older human guy came in. “Hi!  I’m Keith,” he said, introducing himself. Fred, Tianda, Bee and Mac all shook his hand. 

 

“I served as a chaplain with Gus. He asked me to perform the ceremony. Said you wanted a proper human wedding.”

 

Fred nodded.  “Thank you,” she said simply. 

 

Keith nodded, then looked at the orcs who were waiting and said, “not too late to call the whole thing off.  I can stall them if you want to leg it out the back door.”

 

Tianda giggled. Bee guffawed.  Mac announced, “nah, we tried that yesterday!” To everyone’s amusement.  

 

“I’m ok.” Fred replied. “How’s Gus?”

 

Keith grinned, “As happy as I’ve ever seen him.”

 

Fred smiled at that. 

 

“Ok then.  We are go in t-minus ten minutes.”

 

The ladies nodded. Mac looked baffled. 

 

——

 

The next bit was only ever remembered as a series of images. It happened too fast for anyone to remember any of the small details. 

 

Mac walked down the aisle first. Then Fred on Dorghu’s arm. Gus was standing at the altar looking incredibly handsome in his suit while grinning like an idiot. Dorghu got Fred to her spot then went to stand next to Gus. Gus carefully flipped up Tianda’s veil. Imani jumped up, pointed emphatically at Fred and started screaming.  Every gang members in the place pulled a gun from somewhere in their clothing. Keith had his PTSD triggered and brought Fred down in a flying tackle, covering her with his body like a secret service agent with a president he liked. Mac panicked and started hitting Keith with her bouquet, sending smelly little flowers flying everywhere.  Several of the closest orcs started sneezing uncontrollably. 

 

It was a miracle no one got shot. 

 

Eventually, everyone calmed down and someone led Keith away and got him a drink.  

 

Imani gave Gus a smack and demanded to know why he hadn’t said he was marrying a DOCTOR!  Then she turned on Fred and demanded to know how she had met Gus and why was she shunning his family!  Turning down all those dinner invitations! And she let Mac know that she could call her Baba Imani, if she was so inclined.

 

Eventually the Orc High Priest in full regalia, including the deer skull mask, cleared his throat and asked if they were planning to continue.  “Your chaplain friend is in no shape to perform the ceremony, Gus. I would, if you would allow me.” That last line was addressed to Fred.

 

Fred looked at him, then at Gus, then at the wedding guests.  Kate from work was here. It was entirely possible that this was the first time the Brezzik had been in an orc temple.  Sherry, the new nurse the hospital assigned to her was here with her husband and her daughter. There lots of faces she could name and more that she could recognize.  They had come out for her.

 

And here was the perfect time to call the whole thing off.

 

She turned to the High Priest and nodded, “That would be lovely, thank you.”

 

To her surprise, he began with “Dearly Beloved,” and proceeded to fumble his way through Keith’s ceremony notes.  Fred wasn’t really paying attention too closely. She was too busy being amazed that he was willing to attempt a human ceremony in an orcish church.  When she had asked for a human wedding, she had been assuming at a courthouse or something.

 

Everything drifted back into sharp focus as she heard him say, “Love,honour and obey, as long as you both shall live?”  

 

Crap.  There had to be a polite way to get out of-

 

“I do.” Gus said with a smile.  He reached out and slipped two old fashioned looking rings on her finger.

 

Fred looked up at him in amazement.

 

“Do you, Fredalyn Underhill promise to take Augustus  Mutombo as your lawfully wedded husband?  To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

 

Fred’s mind was racing.  There was power in this room.  It wasn’t a good idea to - “I do.” she said.

 

The priest snorted.  “Then by the power invested in my by the great state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”  Then he nodded, clearly expecting that to be it.

 

Fred looked up at Gus.  He seemed satisfied. Huh.

 

Mac pulled on Gus’s suit jacket.  He picked her up and set her on his hip.

 

“Aren’tcha gonna kiss?” she demanded.  “It’s supposed to go, ‘You may kiss the bride’.”

 

Gus laughed.  “Not in Orc churches.  That part comes later.”

 

Mac frowned at him.  Clearly not happy with turn of events.  “You are supposed to kiss, then Mummum is gonna throw -” she trailed of as her train of thought derailed, “Mummum! You don’t have flowers to throw!”

 

Frad shrugged.  “That’s ok.”

 

Mac frowned and crossed her arms, and announced, “This wedding sucks!”  Which got a good laugh from every orc in the room. Followed by a second wave of chuckles as they explained it to the people without orc hearing.

 

Fred shrugged.  Gus held out his arm and they walked out of the temple together, as the congregation cheered and clapped.

 

\----

 

It was after ten.  Fred had danced with everyone at least twice.  Mac was passed out in a corner with a bunch of kids from her class.  The party was in full swing. It seemed to be slightly more family friendly version of the block party.  IE, no strippers and the drug use was rather more hidden. She understood what Gerard had meant when he said you couldn’t keep an orc wedding a secret.

 

She idly ran her left thumb over the rings.  They were a little big. Gus had promised to get them cut down, but when she found out they were his grandmother’s, Fred felt uncomfortable with that.  She was currently sitting at a table wearing his suit jacket like a tent, watching him bump and grind with Rrollo, both of them laughing as Frank pointedly ignored them from across the room.

 

She covered her mouth as she yawned.  

 

Gus noticed and wandered over, “Time to go home?”

 

She nodded.  Gus wandered over and pulled Mac out of the pile of children like an expertly run magic claw machine.  “Come on. I got everything set up for you.”

 

Everything set up turned out to mean a room for her with a double bed and one for Mac with a single.  Mac’s room was expertly decorated. “Wow! I had no idea you had this in you!”

 

Gus blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.  “I don’t. I gave  Aiesha my credit card and turned her loose in Ikea.  Um.. tah dah! Few steps and you have your own room.  No cucumber action required.”

 

Fred wasn’t sure how she felt about that at this point.  But it was what she had agreed to when Dorghu first proposed this whole mess.  She nodded. “I should go wash up,” she said, feeling a little brittle.

 

Gus nodded, “It’s going to be OK.”  He reached out towards her, then let his hand fall.  “Tianda pack overnight bags for both of you and we can get the rest of your stuff tomorrow.”  He went and got it out of the closet where he had put everything and held it out proudly.

 

Fred nodded absentmindedly.

 

“The bathroom is over here,” he said showing her around the apartment.  “I have one in my bedroom so this one is all yours. And Mac’s.” He hesitated.  “You can use or eat or take anything you need out of the kitchen. We’ll figure out how to share a grocery list in the morning.  Kate said she filed some leave papers for you, so you don’t have to go back until next week.” The he hesitated, “Are you OK? You look a little… stunned.”   
  


Fred blinked a couple of times.  There was so much she wanted to say, starting with, ‘were we really spending all that time together to avoid your mother wanting us to spend time together?' and ‘why would you promise to obey me?’ and ‘why would you go to all this trouble then put me in a room down the hall? Where’s the catch?’  but what she said was, “I’m just a little tired.”

 

Gus startled, “Oh!  Of course. Umm… I’ll just get out of your way.  Uh… if you need anything, just knock.”

 

Fred nodded.  And now she was sitting in a giant antique cast iron tub having a bath and scrubbing all the stuff Tianda had used on her off.  There were just entirely too many emotions.

 

For the first time since her daughter was born, Fred had a little cry.

  
  



	15. The Marriage

The first few days had been weird.  No, Fred thought, it was still weird.  Gus seemed to be viewing the whole thing like having a roommate who was also kind of a guest.  Fred was working on that.

 

“Look, I just need to know if it is that you don’t want us touching your stuff.  Which is fair! You didn’t volunteer to be part of Dorghu’s ridiculous plan either.  Or if this is some weird hospitality thing. Because if you are doing all of the dishes all of the time, you are going to start resenting us pretty da- darn quickly.  And I don’t mind helping out.” she finally said.

 

Gus frowned down at her and Fred took a step back.  

 

“Um…  I can get stuff for us and keep it in my room, then we won’t be messing up your things,” she told the floor.  Mac was watching this whole exchanged from the kitchen table. She was eating a peach. It wasn’t the last peach.  Fred had been very careful to keep the larder stocked.

 

Gus turned back to the sink.  “You are doing all the grocery shopping and menu planning.  Only seems fair that I wash the dishes.” He scrubbed a plate and held it out.  “You can dry if it makes you feel better.”

 

Fred grabbed a towel and hurried to help.

 

Gus sighed, “And you’re wrong.  I did volunteer.”

 

“What?”

 

“For Dorghu’s stupid plan.  I volunteered. I was hoping you would… that I would be able to… lend you my strength to fix your leg.”

 

Fred was silent for a long moment then whispered, “Do you know what is involved in that?  What really happens? How that REALLY works?”

 

“I know how it works.”

 

“Do you? Because most people aren’t willing to volunteer to rewrite their DNA.”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

Fred sighed and put the plate away.  “Do you want the long sciency version or should I sum up?”

 

“I’m not stupid.”  Fred just gave he a mild look. “But I’ll take the summary, thanks.” Gus finished.

 

“The reason you need blood and magic, like lay lines or a bright, is that what that whole clan blood thing is doing is turning the person into part of the larger collective organism that is the clan.  Round up a bunch of clan blooded orcs and even if they aren’t related, their DNA has been modified to show the same markers. The reason I would get your strength is that we would start to become the same person.” 

She stopped and looked at him.  “That means I don’t just get your ability to heal.  You get my protectiveness for Mac. And, believe me, I was tempted to exploit that. But you also get all my weird personality quirks, and my stubbornness and my dislike of cilantro and cats.  You get all of that. And you are stuck with it and there isn’t any way to take it back afterwards.”

 

Gus frowned.  “I get your cats?”

 

Mac piped up, “We don’t have any cats.  Mummum hates them.”

 

“So… how do you know I will get your cat hatred and that you won’t get my … non opinion of them?”

 

Fred shook her head.  “The strongest emotion wins.  I’m bad enough when it comes to being pighead-  um, sorry.” She stopped and blushed then tried again, “When it comes to being a right ornery bint.  Can you imagine what it would be like with two of us under one roof?”

 

Now Gus grinned a wry grin.  “You have met my parents, right?”

 

Fred just sighed.

 

“I might not have know how it works, but I knew what I was signing up for.”  He took her hand and rubbed his fingers over her wedding ring, that currently had tape wrapped around the back so it wouldn’t fall off and get lost.  “I’m in this for keeps.”

 

Fred frowned at his hand.  It was the first time he had touched her in any way since they walked down the aisle together after the wedding.  

 

Gus misunderstood and took his hand away.  “Sorry,” he mumbled.

 

Fred closed her eyes and thought about that before she said.  “It was nice. But you don’t have to.”

 

Mac was watching them as they stood too close, not looking at each other.  “Is this a grown up fight?” she asked. “Aiden says his parents fight all the time.  I thought there would be more shouting.”

 

Fred grinned at her daughter, “No sweetie.  This is just us trying to figure things out.” Then she looked at the clock, “and now we rush so that you aren’t late for school.”

 

“Can I just stay home?”  

 

“No.”

 

After Fred dropped Mac off at school, she went back to her old apartment to keep packing.  It was ridiculous. She didn’t have much stuff, but it wasn’t going to fit into her room and Mac’s room at Gus’s apartment.   She was currently packing up her dishes. She maybe she could sell or donate them or something.

 

The dishes were a surprisingly good metaphor for their respective lives.  Gus’s were random, like they had been bought at garage sales and thrift stores over years.  They all matched in a non matchy way with blue being the colour that tied them all together.

 

Fred’s dishes were matching white bone china. Arguably more expensive than Gus’s mish mash collection.  But the reality was that the china, like almost everything else in the apartment had been ordered off a website with delivery arranged for the day after they had arrived.  She felt guilty that Gus had redecorated for them. They could have just moved everything from her place. 

 

She liked her murphy bed better than the one he had picked out for her.  Fred hadn’t seen into Gus’s room but hers and Mac’s were barely bigger than a king sized bed.  The murphy bed would be handy for that. She would need a carpet to go under it, though.

 

Their clothes had moved out yesterday.  The furniture would have to be disposed of.  She had no idea what to do with the dishes. She liked her pots and knives better.  Gus’s were too big for her to comfortably use. It seemed… in appropriate, given how much he had already given up for them to move in to ask for space in his kitchen as well.  

 

On the other hand, she would cook more, or at least better if she felt comfortable with the equipement.  

 

There was a knock on the door.  Fred was sitting on the floor and it would take her awhile to get up, “Gus?  If that’s you, come in.”

 

A key turned in the lock.  Fred adjusted her grip on her chef’s knife.  Gus came in. Fred relaxed.

 

He frowned down at the knife.  “Were you expecting someone else or should I be worried?”

 

Fred shrugged and carefully packed the knife.  “I was just thinking how my cookware is all so much smaller than yours.”

 

Gus shrugged, “So you take the lower cabinet and I’ll take the uppers.  I don’t cook anything fancy.” Fred stared at him. “What?”

 

“Why are you being this nice to me?”

 

Gus frowned.  “Because you’re- ...  Because I’m your husband?”

 

“But… do you want to be?”

 

Gus rubbed the back of his head and sat down.  “I know this is really hard for you. I know… how I must look.  I’m not pushing you, but I am hoping that if I’m really careful… maybe at some point you will be happy with me.”

 

“What do you mean, how you must look?”

 

“Well, I ain’t exactly the sleak, lithe, fashion model elven type now am I?  And now you are stuck sleeping down the hall from a big scary orc.”

 

Fred snorted, “I’ve never met an elf who didn’t make snide comments about me being short and fat.”

 

Gus looked appalled, “You are NOT fat!”

 

Fred snorted, “But you can’t really argue with the short, can you?”

 

Gus’s ears pinned for a moment, “You are human shaped.  You are the shape of a human woman.”

 

“Yup.”  Fred went back to packing in silence.

 

Gus brought over a box and started packing her pans.  “You have a lot of iron pots.”

 

“Elves hate iron.”

 

“I thought that was a myth.”

 

Fred shook her head.  “Instant contact dermatitis and occasionally anaphylaxis.”

 

“Huh.  How does that work?”

 

Fred looked him dead in the eye, “Interestingly enough, no one is talking.  There is no research into it. I’m sure it never came up in all the time you were in the army-”

 

“Navy.” Gus interrupted, “but no, no it didn’t.”

 

“Funny that.  All that time and effort spent in trying to teach you how to kill and no one mentioned that all you need to stop an elf is an iron bracelet that will double as a set of brass knuckles.”

 

Gus considered this.  “You were an iron bracelet on your left wrist and so does Mac.”

 

Fred nodded.  “It’s a bit silly.  It won’t stop a bullet or the hired goon that elves would send if they wanted to be rid of you.  But it is a bit of a Fuck You to any elves I happen to meet in passing. Of course, there isn’t really anyway for them to complain about it without drawing attention to their weakness.”

 

“You really hate them, huh?”

 

“You have no idea.”

 

They packed in silence for a while.  Then Gus asked, “What about orcs?”

 

“What?”

 

“Do you hate us?  What would it take to kill an orc?”

 

Fred snorted.  “Elves has to earn my disrespect.  Orcs haven’t done that. Plus, I’m pretty sure the Navy would have covered how to kill orcs.”

 

“I’m curious how a doctor would do it.”

 

“Ah.  There is a special name for  _ that _ .”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Yeah. Malpractice.”

 

Gus laughed.

 

After another few minutes he said, “You cups are so small!”

 

“We can’t all drink coffee straight out of the carafe.” Fred teased.

 

“That was one time!” Gus laughed.

 

“Nah.  I’m pretty sure it was a regular thing before you had to worry about someone catching you.”

 

They both laughed.  Then Fred fell silent.  “I’m sorry I’ve been making this weird.  I don’t know how not to.”

 

Gus leaned over and bumped her shoulder with his.  “It ok. Can we figure that out together?”

  
  
  



	16. The Nightmare

Gus had learned how to wake silently, even when he was dreaming.  He opened his eyes and did not move. There was someone sneaking through his kitchen.  That was probably what has triggered the combat dream. 

 

It was probably just Mac getting a drink of water.

 

He listened harder.  No. Someone walking quietly around his kitchen. 

 

He reached under the mattress for his Glock 175-O.  Navy standard issue to orc officers.

 

He kept the safety on and the barrel pointed down.  The hallway light was shining under his door. That was… not what he would expect from a burglar.  Not even some piece of trash Altamira kid looking to patch in by hitting an orc house. He opened the door slowly and peaked out, blinking in the light.  Fred’s door was open. Her light was on. So was the hallway light and it looked like every light in the kitchen and living room.

 

Walking on carefully silent feet Gus avoided the squeaky floorboards and came out into the living room.  There was an abruptly cut off shriek from the kitchen and Gus raised his sidearm. He hurried to the kitchen, flattening himself against the wall before doing a quick head roll, peek into the room.

 

“Fucking Jirak!” he said, making her jump. “What are you doing doc?”  That’s when he noticed she was shaking.

 

Fred’s eyes went wide.  “You have a gun!”

 

Gus nodded, “The safety is on and it’s pointed at the floor.  What are you doing?”

 

She wasn’t even seeing him, her eyes were too wide and she was just staring at his hands.

 

Gus tucked it into the back waistband of his sleep short.

 

Fred winced, “I’ve seen someone shoot themselves in the ass doing that.”

 

Gus frowned, “The safety is on,” he repeated.  “Why are you up?”

 

“I … haven’t even seen a handgun that close before.”

 

“Fred!  I need you to focus.  On me. Not the gun. Why are you up?  Is something wrong?” He hesitated for a moment then added, “And how did you see someone shoot themselves in the ass if you’ve never seen a hand gun up close?”

 

Fred sighed, “I had a bad dream and decided to make tea.  I thought I got the kettle off the stove before it started to whistle.”

 

Gus relaxed, “And the ass thing?  That is hella hard to do with a long gun.”

 

Fred frowned at him like he was the one not making any sense.  “I saw him in the hospital I was working in at the time.” She shook her head.  “I’m sorry. I was trying not to wake you.”

 

Gus nodded.  “What’s with all the lights?”  That was when he finally sniffed and realized the kitchen, the living room and his wife absolutely reeked of fear.   And she was still shaking. And her eyes were still too wide. It was sometime hard to tell with humans. The whites of their eyes showed all the time.  But Fred was really afraid. Gus took her hands and lead her to sit on the couch. Then he checked the rest of the apartment and put his piece back under the mattress.  

 

He pulled on a the t-shirt she had bought for him.  The one he would never wear in public. It had a cup and saucer with a smiling tea bag sitting on the saucer leaning against the cup.  The caption read, “This is my Tea Shirt.” She had gotten punny shirts for herself and Mac too. At the time, Gus just shook his head and filed that under ‘shit humans do’. Now it was the least threatening item of clothing he owned.  

 

He was only gone a moment, but Fred was up and pacing when he got back. 

 

She startled when he came in.

 

He watched her for a moment.  “What kind of tea were you making?”  She closed her eyes and hugged herself for a moment.  She didn’t actually stop shaking though. He was pretty sure this wasn’t related to the gun.

 

“I’m OK.” She said softly, more trying to convince herself than him.  The she opened her eyes and looked at him. “I’m so sorry I woke you Gus.  I’ll…. Just…” the paused for a shaky breath then said, “- try to stay in my room next time.”

 

“You got PTSD doc?”

 

She gave a slightly manic giggle, “Just a little.  What gave me away?”

 

“What can I do to help?”

 

Fred just shook her head.  She went into the kitchen and turned out the light, then sprinted into the living room where the lamps were still lit.  Gus watched as she turned them off, one by one, then bolted to the hallway after the last one went out.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Fred was shaking harder now, “I… I don’t like being in the dark after a nightmare.”

 

“How will you sleep?”

 

She just looked at him, “There is no way I’m getting back to sleep tonight.”  If anything the trembling got worse. “I’ll just sit in my room until morning.”  She took a deep breath before adding, “I’ll be fine,” in a very unconvincing way.

 

Gus watched as she stood in the hallway, looking at the last light switch and taking deep breaths as she glared at it like it personally offended her.  If anything, the smell of her fear was getting worse. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” he hazzarded.

 

Now she looked at him.  “I am so sorry, Gus. You should go to bed.  It’s like… 3 am.”

 

“You need to go to bed too.”

 

Fred shrugged, “As soon as I close my eyes, I see my ex standing over me with a knife.”

 

“OK.”  Gus stepped up and slowly wrapped his arms around her, telegraphing his movements.  “You are safe. I promise. You go lay down and I will guard you.”

 

Fred shivered and shook her head, no.

 

“Come on.  I’ll read you a bedtime story.”

 

Fred looked at him, “I … just turn the hallway light off for me when you go back to bed, ok?”

 

Gus strode past her to her room. The bed was completely pulled apart with her pillow on the floor, like she had jumped up and tried to run but fell out of bed instead.  “This is going to take too much effort to straighten at three in the morning. He picked up her pillow, trying not to gag on the smell of sheer terror in the room, then he turned to the door, turned off the light and hearded her into his room.

 

He pointed to his bed and tossed her pillow on it.  “Go lay down. I will keep the monsters away.”

 

She looked at him, like she was going to protest.  But when he turned off the hallway light she jumped onto the bed and hid under the covers.  Gus snickered, “You jumped like you are afraid of the monster under the bed.”

 

“I am.” Fred whispered. “Right now, I’m afraid of everything.”

 

Gus nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?”

 

Fred grunted a negative. 

 

“Can I hold you or will that make it worse?”  Fred sat up and looked at him. “It helps some people,” he finished with a shrug. 

 

Fred shrugged back at him.  “Dunno. I haven’t tried.”

 

Gus just kept watching.  “Do you want to?” As soon as he said it, he could see the internal struggle Fred had with herself. 

 

“I-“ as abruptly as she started, she stopped.  Then she closed her eyes and nodded. 

 

Gus came over and lay down behind her. When he wrapped his arms around her, she tensed for a moment, then slowly relaxed.  “It’s ok. I got you.” Suddenly, Fred squirmed in his arms and rolled over to press her face into his chest. Gus carefully stroked her hair.   After a while, her body went heavy in his arms as she fell back to sleep. Gus grinned in the dark. 

 

\----

 

Mac woke up at her usual time, as was her habit.  And as per usual, went to find her mum before going to get breakfast.

 

Only Fred wasn’t there.  Her room was trashed and she was gone.  Mac sighed. This happened sometimes. It just meant that Mummum would be in the kitchen knocking back coffee like there was no tomorrow.  Except that when she got to the kitchen, there wasn’t any sign of Mummum or Gus. And that was a little worrying. Mummum was very clear on Mac always knowing who the grown up in charge was.

 

Mummum had also been very clear about Mac not bothering Gus.  If Gus’s door was closed, Mac had to respect that.

 

But Mac couldn’t find a grown up and she needed to find one she trusted.

 

She trusted Gus.

 

She carefully knocked on his door.

 

The response was a quiet, “Come in Mac.”

 

Mac cracked the door open and peeked into the room.  “I can’t find Mummum!” she whispered.

 

“It’s OK.  She’s here.  You can come in.  Mummum had a bad dream last night.”

 

Mac frowned, “She’s allowed!” she said defensively.

 

Gus nodded.

 

Mac crept closer and peered at her mother from beside the bed.  “I never seed her go back to sleep after one.”

 

“What?  Never?” Gus was surprised.

 

“I can hear you, you know.” Fred mumbled sleepily.  She tried to sit up a bit, but Gus’s arm was heavy and she quickly gave up and went back to sleep.

 

Gus chuckled softly.

 

Mac saw her opportunity and took it.  “Can I go have some cereal?” she said with excess casualness.

 

“Yes.  But not the coco puffs,” Gus replied, “It’s a school day.”

 

“Aww!  No fair!”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have had two majorly bad family events in the last three days. I need all the cheering you are willing to give just now.


	17. The Stalker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They catch up with Fred and Mac

Gus was parked outside of Mac’s school, having dropped her off in his truck that morning, but he didn’t even make it half a block before work called with a crisis.  He pulled over and was texting on his phone when the Audi pulled up. Gus looked up and snorted. The elves inside probably thought they were slumming in that car. Three of them in perfectly tailored three piece suits. One in grey with lilac hair.  One in navy pinstripes with blue hair. And the last, a female with pink hair and a black pencil skirt and a white blouse.

 

Shit.  Elves. There wasn’t any reason for Elves to be at school.

 

He texted Dorghu, then he grabbed his tire iron, got out of his truck and wandered over.  “Can I help you?”

 

The elf in the grey suit raised his hands, “I’m not looking for trouble.  I’m just here to get my niece.”

 

“Really.” Gus frowned, “There aren’t that many elves in the school.  Does your niece have a name?”

 

“Mackenzie Underhill.”

 

“Oh yeah?” Gus’s voice was flat.  “I supposed you are going to tell me that her mother asked you to get her.”

 

“That’s right.  Her mother is busy working at her office and couldn’t come.” The elf was so oily, Gus could have used him to regrease the bearings in his truck.

 

“Uh huh.  You might want to get back into that car now.” 

 

“Are you threatening us?” the female asked.  Then she added, “I can call the police, you know.”

 

“Yeah.  You do that.  And then you can explain why you’re here to take my stepdaughter.”

 

They all turned to gape at him at that.  “What?”

 

“Yeah.  I guess Fred forgot to invite you to the wedding, huh?  Or are you going to say you’re on her father’s side of the family.  Which would be interesting, given that I have seen her birth certificate.  And the news reports. And that fun scar Fred is still hobbling around with.”   

 

The elves started backing towards the car.  Gus hadn’t even unleashed his resting murder face when Dorghu and some of the boys pulled up, boxing in the Audi.  Rolling out of their trucks and sauntering over, they didn’t even bothering to hide the fact that they were scenting the elves.

 

The lead elf held up his hands, “We aren’t looking for trouble.”  Nonetheless, the others were carefully reaching for concealed weapons.

 

That was went a little blue POS toyota screeched up and Fred flung herself out of the passenger door.  “Whoa! Easy there! We don’t want any-” whatever else the elf was going to say was cut off by Fred punching her hard in the face.  

 

She went down screaming, the faint scent of scorched flesh wafting to where the onlooking orcs could catch it.  And Fred didn’t stop. When the navy pinstripe elf caught her around the waist, he went white and dropped her a moment later. He fell to an uppercut to the chin that Gus barely even saw.

 

Objectively, Fred wasn’t actually a good fighter, but armed to the teeth with iron like she was, she didn’t have to be. When the grey suited elf pinned her against the car, however, Gus got himself involved, vaulting over the hood of his truck and tacking him sideways to the ground.  “That’s my wife and you don’t touch her, you pastel piece of shit.”

 

“Aw hell!” Dorghu frowned.  “I never thought I would have to rescue an elf, but we need one of them alive to go back where they came from and explain the change in circumstances.”

 

“Or we kill them all and grandad will get the message.” Fred said, sucking on at her split lip.

 

The elves had gone silent now.  Someone in the back said, “Nah. That will just make too much work paperwork for Nick.”

 

Fred froze for a moment, then was suddenly texting furiously.  “No. This isn’t Nick’s problem. Attempted kidnapping is a federal offence.”  She used her phone to take pictures of each of the elves. And the car. And it’s plates.  Then announced. “I don’t think anyone wants the Task Force involved in this. We’re not the only people you’ve done this to and we’re not low hanging fruit.  Understand?”

 

The lilac haired elf nodded.

 

Fred looked at Dorghu.  “I’m done. I’m getting my kid and leaving.  Whatever you want to do, you do.” The little toyota was long gone.  Fred was suddenly walking into the school. Gus handed his tire iron to Dorghu then followed after her.

 

Once they were through the door Gus whispered, “What would have happened if they got inside?”

 

“I don’t know.  I’m pretty sure they want Mac alive.”

 

“Who was that driving?”

 

“Sherri.  She’s my surgical nurse.”  Fred just sounded tired. She stopped into the office and explained that her ex-husband’s family was causing problems and that she was just going to take Mac home for the day.

 

She got a form to take to the classroom and as they walked Gus was forced to ask, “Sherri Ward?  As in Darryl Ward’s wife?”

 

“Yeah?  He was at the wedding.”

 

“Holy shit Doc!  That would have gotten some press coverage, if she got arrested as part of this.”

 

Fred shook her head.”Gus, none of this will get press coverage ever.  They weren’t going to call the cops. I’m not going to get the feds involved.  I just hope they don’t come back.”

 

Something had been bothering him, “How’d you know what was happening?”

 

Fred snorted.  “I told Mrs McInnon that my ex-husband was an abduction risk.  She told her bridge club. They have been watching Mac for me for months.” She thought about that for a while, “I’m pretty sure your mom is in on it somehow.”

 

Gus thought about that for a long moment, as Fred talked to the kindergarten teacher and collected Mac.  As they left, he noticed the Audi was gone, but all the Fogtooth members were not. He nodded to Dorghu as he helped Mac into the truck then just deadlifted the Doc into the front seat.  Dorghu handed him the tire iron. It was a little bloody. Gus put it in the back of his truck.

 

“Imma gonna have to get my truck washed, “ he muttered to himself as he climbed in an buckled up.

 

Mac’s eyes lit up.  “We are going to the  _ car wash _ ?!”

 

Gus looked at her happy smile in the rear view mirror and tried to remember what it had been like to be five.  “Sure thing, half pint, and we’ll get some chips.”

 

Mac squealed and shouted, “Yay!”

 

“Just a little quieter, sweetie.” Fred added.

 

And so they did.  Everyone got a snack sized bag of chips.  Gus thought about getting Mac a pop, but Fred preemptively asked Mac if her water bottle was still in her backpack.  They drove through and Mac laughed at all the different colours of soap. They were almost done when Fred got a call from the hospital, asking where the hell she was.

 

As she was explaining there had been an emergency at her daughter’s school, Gus was already driving her back to work.  He pulled into the ambulance bay and said, “You go. I got this. Mac and I will go see a movie and pick you up after work.”

 

Fred sat in his truck and thought about that for a long moment.  Long enough for Mac to say, “ _ Please, Mummum _ ?”

 

“What if they come back?”

 

“They won’t.” Gus assured her.  “I will keep her safe. We will pick you up at the end of your shift.”  

 

Mac climbed out of her car seat at over to the front seat.  “Have a good day Mummum! Gus will let me eat chocolate and watch big kid movies.”

 

Fred groaned and kissed her back.  “Behave! I’ll see you in six hours.  Don’t take off your bracelet. No eating cocopuffs for lunch.”

 

“Why do we even have those?” Gus asked. 

 

Mac started giggling.  Fred shook her head, “We don’t talk about that.  Okay,” she kissed Mac again, “Work. See you. Stay safe,” one more kiss for Mac, then one for Gus, then an awkward moment.  “Sorry. That just happened. I, um, I gotta go.” She bounced out of the truck and headed in through the staff door. 

 

Gus turned to watch her leave.  Then he made eye contact with Mac who was giggling in the back seat.  “Put your seatbelt back on,” he grumbled.

 

\----

 

Fred hurried into her office and grabbed her white coat. As she turned to head out the door she saw her grandfather standing in the doorway.  She froze like a deer in the headlights.

 

He smirked, “You married an orc.  That was smart. I didn’t know you had it in you, poppet.”

 

“Get out.”

 

“So… what’s your long game?  You can’t keep her safe forever.  I just have to out wait you.”

 

“Fine.  But do that somewhere else.”

 

He stood up and walked toward her.  Fred backed up until she crashed into her desk.  Her arms were shaking. He grinned, and raised his hand to her face.

 

Fred moved fast and caught it, fingers wrapping tightly around his wrist.  Fingers that were also holding an iron bracelet.

 

The elf screamed.

 

Fred ignored this, “I don’t have to keep her safe forever.  Give me a couple more years and she will keep herself safe. She will not be another little girl sitting on your lap, with her hand in your pants.”  At that her other hand dipped into his his pants and she dropped her other iron bracelet into his briefs. Then she pushed him to the ground and walked over him and out of her office as her grandfather burned his fingers trying to save his dick.

 

“I only have to keep her safe long enough, old man.  Go home. Give up on this one.”

 

“This isn’t over, bitch.”

 

“Yes. It is.”  

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there loyal readers! There is going to be a brief re-callibration period on new posts. For those of you who have been suggesting all year that I look into a way to go (slightly) commercial, I have. But I'm not allowed to tell you about it on AO3. You can check out my Tumblr page for details:
> 
> https://pixie-unger.tumblr.com/post/174949314643/brief-delay
> 
> The sum up is that there will now be a week of delay time between when I finish writing and when it goes up on AO3 or Tumblr. You will still get to read most of my work here. Although the stuff that would either go unpublished or end up in my discard pile is finding a new home as a reward for subscribers. The main stories are all going to be on AO3.
> 
> I will flat out admit that this step forward (sadly) didn't come from all the encouragement I have gotten here (although thank you so much for that). It was a knee jerk reaction to someone in my life telling me I'm rubbish and wasting my time on this nonsense.
> 
> To be fair, if you all hadn't been so supportive over the last year and a half, I would have just believed them.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> \- Pixie Unger


	18. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think this about wraps it up. With the possibility of a smutty one shot later on.

This was the first Fogtooth party since Fred’s grandfather’s visit.  It had been a crazy month. The elves hadn’t come back and there hadn’t been any reports of missing persons.  Missing orcs didn’t make the news cycle, but three missing elves would have been headline news.

Gus had assumed Dorghu had just run them off.

Right up until someone poisoned Frank.  Now Gus was exercising a strict don’t ask policy.

Fred had been extra tense and distracted all month.  Right up until about two hours into the afternoon barbecue when she had wandered out of his sight for about 20 minutes and came back much more relaxed.  Enough so that Gus had actually sniffed around to see if someone had put something in her drink.

That had offend Dorghu enough that Gus was pulled aside for a quiet word of his own.  “She’s fine. She just got some good news. Don’t worry about it.”

Gus fixed the man with a firm glare. “She’s my wife.  I am going to worry about it.”

Dorghu raised an eyebrow, “She’s only your wife because I made that happen.  Don’t go forgetting your place, boy.”

\----

It was only one flight of stairs, but Gus had to carry Fred home.  Mikey was close behind with a sleepy Mac in his arms. Gus parked Fred on the couch then helped Mac get into her pyjama’s and into her bed.  By the time he got back to the living room, Fred was getting herself a glass of water. Having first stripped down to her cute matching bra and panty set.  Gus took a moment to appreciate Fred’s soft curves and amazing ink.

Fred turned to look at him. “I’m too hot.”

“Yes, you are.” Gus said with a slight grin.

Fred set down her glass, finding the counter on her third try. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“You’re really drunk right now. I don’t think you’re gonna remember any of this.”

“No, I’m not drunk at all. You’re just blurry.”

“Yeah well, let’s get you cleaned up and tucked in before that gets worse.”

That had been a production.  Fred had insisted on taking off her make-up and brushing her teeth.  Except she kept distracting herself with random things. About the time she was explaining the Vimes Boots theory of socio-economic unfairness, Gus gave up and just cupped her chin and carefully wiped her face with one of those baby wipe things she kept for this.  Then he told her to pee and went to pull the extra pillows off her bed so she could go to sleep.

Five minutes later, he found her unconscious in his bed instead.  With a sigh, he dug out his tea shirt and tried to figure out how to get her out of her bra.  Once he was sure she was safely settled, Gus watched Fred snoring softly on in his bed. He ghosted his hand up and down her arm.

“I think I’m in love with you and I’m terrified,” he confessed.

Fred wiggled in her sleep and crept a little closer to him.

“And the worst part is,” Gus continued, “if I tell you that, then you will be terrified too.”

In the end, when Gus lay down Fred slid over and used his chest as a pillow.  He sighed, then closed his eyes and tried to relax.

He woke in the same position hours later, the sun was streaming in through the cracks around the blinds.  Mac was knocking softly on the door. “It’s OK, Mac. She’s in here.”

The door opened a crack and Mac peeked in.  “Can I come for snuggles too?”

Gus blinked. He was wearing sleep shorts.  The knock on the door had been the equivalent of a bucket of ice water for his libedo.  “Sure.”

Mac hurried in and looked at the two of them, then copied Fred position on his other side.  “You are nice and warm,” she mumbled rubbing her face on his chest, then yawning hugely.

Gus chuckled then raised his head to kiss the top of hers.  “Go back to sleep little girl. It’s still early.”

\----

Fred woke up to the sound of snoring.  Her head hurt a bit, but mostly she needed to pee.  She was surprised to find herself in Gus’s bed, in his shirt, and even more surprised to find Mac sleeping curled up against his other side.  She inched herself away and headed quietly to the main bathroom. Looking in the mirror, she still looked tired, but her make up had been scrubbed off and running her tongue over her teeth found them to not be worse than any other day.  

She finished up in the bathroom, then headed to the kitchen for some water.  The glass on the counter suggested she had thought of this last night too. She had another one and an aspirin and after a moment of internal struggle, went back to bed.

Gus, cracked one big yellow eye, and peeked at her, before closing it and mumbling a question that sounded vaguely like, “yo-kay?”

“Yeah.  I’m good.  Should I take Mac?”

“Nah.  Come sleep.”

Fred considered this as she tucked herself against his side.  “Gus?”

“Mmm?”

She hesitated, so much to say and not enough words, “Thank you.”

“Mmhmm.”

\----

When the alarm went off at ten, Mac was the only one ready to get up.  She encouraged the adults by jumping on the bed and singing, “Get up! Get up! We promised Gramma Imani we would got to church!”

Fred groaned, “Ten more minutes.”

Mac bounced in her direction. “No! You have to get up now!”

Fred pulled the pillow over her head, “I don’t wanna go to school.”

Gus stared at the ceiling and laughed. Mac stopped bouncing and joined in.  Fred remembered where she was and jumped up, catching her daughter around the waist and heading toward the kitchen singing, “No more monkey jumping on Gus’s bed!”

“Not unless you can talk your mom into joining in!” Gus called after them.

It was a bit of a push and Fred ended up putting her still damp hair into a bun, but they made it to church in time to sit with Imani and Gerard.  Fred was fascinated watching Gus and his dad interact with Imani. As an orc, she was almost as tall as Gerard, who despite Fred’s initial impression was only 6’6.  The same height, in fact, as Gus. She and Mac looked tiny in comparison.

Afterwards, Imani invited them over for breakfast, making a dig about them not being able to run off this time.  They had lunch, Mac found some of Gus’s old crayons and set about colouring. Fred and Imani did the dishes while Gus and Gerard argued about football.

Fred was vaguely expecting the shovel talk.  And, in a way, she got it.

Imani fixed her with a fierce glare and announced, “If my boy doesn’t treat you right, you tell me and I will kick his ass.”

Fred choked, then nodded.

The rest of the day was horribly domestic.  Laundry at the laundromat, then family laundry folding in front of the TV.  

Mac laughed at everyone’s underwear. Fred frowned and told her that was being rude.  Then she put Mac in charge of folding socks.

That night, after Mac was tucked, the laundry was put away and the dishes were washed, Fred opened a bottle of wine and poured two glasses.  She handed one to Gus as she came to sit on the couch with him.

He chuckled as he took it.  “What’s the special occasion, Doc?  ‘Cause I know this is a regular thing for you.”

Fred shrugged, “I need to ask you something, but I’m really nervous it will upset you.”

Gus set his wine glass on the coffee table and leaned back, man spreading as he did so.  He watched Fred for a moment, then smirked and asked, “What’s up, doc?”

Fred groaned and threw a pillow at him.  

Gus laughed and picked up his wine.  “I’ve been waiting months to say that.”

Fred rolled her eyes, then took a deep breath and blurted out, “Will you go out with me?”

Gus paused, his glass halfway to his lips.  He blinked at her for a moment, then said, “What?”

Fred ducked her head and looked at her hands.  “I mean… Look. I know you only married me because Dorghu told you to, and I don’t know if you even like human girls - women- and…”  She trailed off and peeked up at him and started over. “I know this is a marriage of convenience and you might want to date other people, but… could we just try dating each other first?”

Gus smiled at his wife, “I’d like that.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions? Comments? Concerns? Hit me up!


End file.
